.... that comes from the great American philosopher, Yogi Berra.  [cheers]  Right?  It's not over until it's over.

Well thank you all for your hard work, your spirit, and your support.

A New York Republican named Teddy Roosevelt once said, "Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords."  Like most Americans, I love competition.  I don't back down from a principle fight, but there must always be a larger purpose -- justice for an individual, hope for a city, a better future for our country.

Elections are about a lot more than just candidates.  Elections are about fighting for a cause larger than ourselves.  They're about identifying the great challenges of our time and proposing new solutions.  Most of all, they're about handing our nation to the next generation better than it was handed to us.  This is our opportunity and this is our obligation as American citizens.  [applause].

So you've participated in that process, particularly the young people that are here, and you should be very proud of your participation in that process.  [applause]  You're making, you're making your state and your country better.

I want to congratulate each of my opponents on a hard-fought campaign here in Florida.  I want to congratulate Senator McCain, who I believe has been declared the winner.   I spoke to Mitt Romney, told him my regards to him, as well.  These are honorable people, they're accomplished public servants, and they're good men and we should -- as well as Mike Huckabee.  So let's applaud them all.  [applause]  They're our opponents.  And Ron Paul, who, who won all the debates, on that thing where you call in all the time.  I used to watch it afterwards at night when I'd go back to my room, and Ron Paul would win all the debates. [laughter].

But they are truly all honorable people, honorable men, who are fighting for what they believe in.  They have different strengths, they have different things to contribute, like I do, and I believe that our party will be stronger as a result of the competition that we're going through.  But win or lose, our work is not done, because leaders dream of a better future and then they help to bring it into reality.  [applause].

The responsibility of leadership doesn't end with a single campaign.  If you believe in a cause, it goes on and you continue to fight for it, and we will.  [applause].

I am proud that we chose to stay positive and to run a campaign of ideas in an era of personal attacks, negative ads and cynical spin.  We ran a campaign that was uplifting.  [applause].

You don't always win, but you can always try to do it right, and you did.  That's what the American people deserve -- a return to honesty and substance in our political discussion.  I believe that the ideas of our campaign, the 12 commitments that we made to the American people -- Wayne [turns to look for Wayne Semprini] -- in New Hampshire, first, clearly identify the great challenges of our time.

First, America needs to stay on offense to win the terrorist war on us.  [applause].  It's not optional.  We can't wish it away.  We can't hope it away.  It's there; it's a reality.  And America must always remember that the best way to achieve peace is through overwhelming strength.  [applause].

America also needs to stay on offense to achieve economic security.  We need to embrace the global economy, not shrink away from its challenges, but turn them to our advantage.  We can compete and we can win through a commitment to pro-growth policies, like lower taxes, less government spending, reasonable regulations, and less lawsuits.  Please, less lawsuits.  [applause, chants "Rudy"].  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.

[Voice from audience: "They'll be sorry."].  You sound like my mother [laughter]...if she were here, if she were here.

If we unleash the genius of America's free market economy, if we encourage the entrepreneurial spirit, we can create not just a global economy, but a growth society.  I said it many times during the campaign.  America has to be a country in which young people can look up to the sky, and they can say the sky is the limit. There is no end to what we can accomplish.  [applause].

I hope, I hope Congress passes our tax bill that was introduced already by David Dreier and by Senator Kit Bond.  It would be the largest tax decrease, tax reduction in American history and it would be a one-page optional tax form.  Wouldn't that be great to be able to fill it out on one page?  [applause].  Just think, just think of how that would, just think about how that would stimulate our economy.

We have got to strive for energy independence. We have to strive for health care through private options.  You know the 12 commitments.  I think they outline the challenges for America for the next four, eight and ten years, and I'm very proud that we conducted our campaign around them and around ideas and ideas that will enliven America and that will make America stronger. [applause].

Finally, finally, we need to re-establish very, very clearly the idea that the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln and the party of Reagan and the party of Bush, that the  Republican Party [applause] the Republican party is a party that is and has been from the beginning, when we do it right, when we are on our game, when we're making our contribution, when we're being our contributor to America, we are the party of freedom.  We are the party of the people.  [applause].

And we're a big party. We're a big party, and we're getting bigger.

I'm even in this party.  This is a big party.  [laughter]

We understand that America is not great because of our centralized government; America is great because of self-government.  It's great because of you, the people, and we believe government works best when it empowers people to take responsibility for their own lives.  These are great ideas.  [applause].

Whether it's moving people from welfare to work or something that I think our party should be dedicated to; I think our party should be dedicated to having parents decide the school that their child goes to.  [applause].  You want to reach out for votes in urban America, you want to reach out for votes across all kinds of lines of different kinds -- ethnic, racial, religious -- then you have an America in which the parent decides the school the child goes to -- public, private, parochial, charter or home schooling.  [applause].

These ideas, these ideas unite not just Republicans, they unite the vast majority of Americans and they are the key to building a stronger and broader party.  We must be a 50-state Republican Party.  [applause]. We must compete in all 50 states.  We have to compete for urban, suburban and rural votes, conservatives and moderates, men and women, all races, ethnic groups and religions.  We have answers to help each of them because our answers are not based on class distinctions or religious distinctions or ethnic or racial or religious distinctions.  Our answers are to Americans and they work for all Americans and we have to reach out to all Americans.  [applause]  That's the way to break through the red state/blue state divide and win the White House and the Congress.
 

[above is the first 10 minutes of the speech; in the latter part Guiliani thanked some of the people who worked on and helped the campaign]