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Perry backs Giuliani despite differences
2007-10-18
Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani won the endorsement of Texas Gov. Rick Perry Wednesday, despite their differences on abortion rights. Perry said that his biggest concern had been Giuliani's support for abortion rights but that he was satisfied the former New York mayor would appoint judges who view the issue conservatively. "The one (issue) that I wanted to hear him give me an answer and look me right in my eyes was that issue of who can I expect, what type of individual can I expect on the Supreme Court," Perry said at a news conference with Giuliani. "He clearly said ... you can look for people like Scalia and Roberts and Alito. Let me tell you, I can live with that," Perry said, referring to conservative Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Perry said when he buys a pickup truck, he doesn't rule any out simply because they have an option he doesn't like. He said the war on terrorism is the campaign's overriding issue and Giuliani is best-equipped to lead a country at war. The Texas governor, who accompanied Giuliani on a campaign trip to Iowa later in the day, said, "Mayor Giuliani is not the enemy. Rudy Giuliani is a culture warrior." Giuliani, who is addressing social conservative voters this weekend in Washington, said he wants conservatives to focus on areas where he agrees with them. "I'm not going to get every vote," he said. "The idea is going to be that there's enough we agree about and enough we're facing -- foreign threats and domestic problems -- that it may just be if they think about it, that I'm the best candidate." "What I really want is a relationship in which we respect each other, even if we disagree," Giuliani said. In Iowa, he courted conservatives activists with a free-market pitch for the nation's health care system and ridicule of leading Democratic contenders. "If we do Hillarycare in this country, where are the Canadians going to go for their health care?" Giuliani asked. Speaking before about 400 people at Drake University in Des Moines, he argued that the health care system should be treated like any other business, with tax incentives and free-market principles to drive costs down. Giuliani said universal health care proposals make an appealing case, but "the reality is, it's a nice promise to make, but you will be misleading people." Perry was also to attend two later town-hall style meetings in Iowa, appearances apparently aimed at reassuring conservatives who might be leery of Giuliani because of his support of abortion rights and past stands on gay rights and gun control. In Washington, outside the hotel where the news conference was held, Perry refused to stop to answer questions and relied on security and others to block an Associated Press reporter who was trying to question him. When the reporter shouted questions at Perry, she was grabbed and threatened with jail. "Mayor Giuliani and Governor Perry took questions from reporters twice on Wednesday; first at an open press conference and then on a conference call with Texas media," said Perry's spokesman, Robert Black. "Unfortunately, this particular reporter chose not to participate, and instead chose to bull-rush the mayor and governor as they left the building." ___ Associated Press Writer Mike Glover contributed to this story from Des Moines.
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