Rudy's fundraiser

Speculation that Rudy Giuliani was about to declare his intention to run for president in 2008 intensified on Saturday when the former mayor of New York City visited New Hampshire. On Friday night Robert Novak reported:

Texas Republican contributors are being solicited to spend $30,000 for dinner with former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani at the Houstonian Hotel in Houston Feb. 1 to finance his “presidential exploratory committee.” The “private” dinner will follow a 6:30 to 8 p.m. cocktail reception, costing $2,100 a person and $4,200 for couples.

The best-known host of Giuliani’s Houston event is billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens Jr., chairman of the private equity firm BP Capital Management. Also on Giuliani’s Texas fund-raising team are Tom Hicks, whose company owns the Texas Rangers baseball team; oil industry executive Jim Lee; and lawyer Patrick C. Oxford.

Novak also reported that Rudy will hold an event January 29th in Pacific Palisades, Calif., at the home of Bill Simon, the 2002 Republican candidate for governor of California.