At a luncheon for Long Island business executives on Tuesday, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he will not be a GOP candidate for the 2012 presidential election.
Joined by former New York Yankees Manager Joe Torre as a guest speaker at this month’s Long Island Association (LIA) gathering at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, both fielded questions from LIA President Kevin Law.
“If it’s too late for Chris Christie, it’s too late for me,” Giuliani said, who spoke highly of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a GOP candidate.
“I think we’re going through a point of time where you have seven or eight people standing on the stage and they’re all attacking each other,” he said. “It’s going to go on until someone emerges. [Mitt] Romney and Perry have the most realistic chances. Both of them have considerably more experience than the incumbent President has. Of course, I’m partisan.”
Giuliani said while Romney may have the intellectual vote from the GOP, Perry has the heart. He also said Romney has lacked inconsistency with his views on gay marriage, abortion and health care.
“If things remain the way they are right now and our economy doesn’t improve and gets worse, it doesn’t matter who the republican nominee is, the country will reject [President] Obama,” he said.
Though he said he has not thought about it, Giuliani, who campaigned for a GOP presidential nomination in 2008, did not turn down the possibility of being a vice president if he's asked.
As for Torre, he expressed comfort in his new position as Major League Baseball’s Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations. Asked if he’d ever manage again, possibly in Boston with Terry Francona out as manager, he was quick to say no.
“I don’t think I want to do that,” he said. “Let’s put it this way. I’m 71. I want to be 72, 73.”
