Giuliani Considering Presidential Run, 'Could Probably Be Talked Into Doing It, or Convince Himself to Do It'

C-SPAN VIDEO: Republican Lawyers Association 12th Annual National Policy Conference

Q: Is there any possibility that you would consider a run?

GIULIANI: Sure, but not right now. I enjoyed the debate last night so much...I will sure think about it, but not yet. It's too early and I want to see how it all develops. My major goal is to elect a Republican in 2012. And if it turns out that I’m the best one to do that, then I could probably be talked into doing it, or convince myself to do it. If I thought somebody else had a better chance of doing it, then I would be a very enthusiastic supporter of somebody else. So let's see how it all develops. And luckily, this is developing much later than last time. So we'll be able to make a decision about that a little closer in time to when the election takes place.

I remember in 2007, by this time we had 12 Republican candidates. I had lunch today with John McCain. And he and I, you know, ran against each other last time. And we were very good friends. And we came out of it very good friends. And I once announced during one of our debates that if I wasn't running, I'd be supporting him. My staff got very angry when I said that. But, the reality is, that in 2007, we were debating issues that ultimately had no relevance to the election in 2008, because it was so.. I remember our debates were about -- immigration. They were about stem cell research. They were about, just a whole host of issues. Very little about the economy. 

I went through I think 11 debates, may have been asked 5 questions about the economy. A lot of questions about Iraq, as you would imagine because that's at the time the president first decided on the surge, and the Democrats were in favor of pulling out of Iraq. Republicans were mostly in favor of the surge, but not everyone. But, the election turned out then to be decided on the economy, and we hadn't really debated that at all. We had been asked very few questions about it. And certainly we didn't conduct our primary around, 'Well, who would be best the candidate to guide our economy?' That wasn't even a thought on our minds. 

So, I think this year, it's developing later, probably will help. We'll get a better idea of who can be the best candidate in a general election. And we're going to have to do that. You have to win general elections. You can't just win primaries.