MICHELE NORRIS, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.
Republican presidential candidates are debating at this hour at the Ronald Reagan Library in California. That's the biggest of one of more than 20 states that hold nominating contest next Tuesday. And there's one less Republican on this stage than there was in the last debate. Rudy Giuliani officially ended his presidential bid today after a disappointing third-place finish in yesterday's Florida primary. He threw his support to the Florida winner, John McCain.
(Soundbite of political speech)
Mr. RUDY GIULIANI (Former Republican Mayor, New York City): Today, I'm officially announcing my withdrawal as a candidate for president of the United States. And so deciding who to endorse, in my particular case, is not difficult because if I endorse anyone else, you would say, I was flip-flopping…
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. GIULIANI: …after having already endorsed John. John McCain is the most qualified candidate to be the next commander in chief of the United States.
NPR's Scott Horsley joins us now from the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.
Scott, any sparks from that debate so far?
SCOTT HORSLEY: Michele, there's been a lot of talk about economics - the number one issue in the Florida primary and the candidates were given a chance to respond to Ronald Reagan's famous question, are Americans better off than they were four years ago or eight years ago. That gave John McCain a chance to challenge Mitt Romney's record as the former governor of Massachusetts. It also gave Romney a chance to argue that Washington is broken, and the implicit message there that McCain's a part of that.
The two also squabbled over who's entitled to the mantle of conservative. And former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee argued, hey, I'm a conservative too. Huckabee's trying to combat the notion of this is now a two-man race between McCain and Romney.
NORRIS: Now, the big news of the day came several hours ago when Rudy Giuliani appeared alongside John McCain and endorsed the Arizona senator. Tell us what happened.
HORSLEY: That's right. He said he spent a lot of time while running for president, thinking about what kind of person should be the president. He hoped it would be him but since the voters had other ideas, he says, he's backing John McCain, he called the Arizona senator, an American hero, and he promised to campaign for McCain in states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut - those are all winner-take-all states, by the way.
Giuliani also joked that he would be willing to keep quiet if that would be more helpful to John McCain. He also said he hopes the senator can secure the GOP nomination quickly so he can unite the Republican Party and begin to unite the country.
NORRIS: Now, it sounds like John McCain is going to get another high-profile boost out there in California tomorrow when he campaigns alongside Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, how big would that be?
HORSLEY: That's right. Governor Schwarzenegger will appear with John McCain at a campaign event here in California tomorrow, an event with an environmental theme, which is something that's important to both men. Governor Schwarzenegger stopped short of endorsing McCain today but he hinted that an endorsement could be coming tomorrow. Schwarzenegger said one reason he stayed neutral in the race, so far, is that he's had two friends running, McCain and Giuliani.
Now that dynamic has changed, he says, even if he doesn't go so far as to endorse McCain, he is lending McCain's campaign some star power by campaigning with him. Remember in Florida, Governor Charlie Crist came out in support of McCain just a few days before that state's primary as did Senator Mel Martinez, and that may have tipped some votes in the senator's direction.
NORRIS: That was NPR's Scott Horsley speaking to us from Simi Valley, California.
Thank you, Scott.
HORSLEY: My pleasure.