HOPKINTON, N.H. (AP) – Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said Saturday he’s glad to be back campaigning in New Hampshire after canceling some events because of illness.
The former New York mayor downplayed his illness to reporters after holding a town hall-style meeting with voters. He said he did not have the flu but had a very bad headache, possibly caused by overwork and lack of sleep.
“I am in good health, this is just something that came about because I was tired, not sleeping, who knows exactly why, but I had a very bad headache. They were concerned it might be other things, they ruled out just about every other possibility. It was just a bad headache.”
When he boarded an airplane Wednesday and the cabin was pressurized, that increased the head pain and he decided to ask the pilot to land six or eight minutes into the flight, he said.
Giuliani was released from the hospital Thursday after spending the night at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.
Giuliani, who had prostrate cancer seven years ago, said a follow up test three weeks ago found no reoccurrence of cancer.
Giuliani spoke briefly and took questions in Hopkinton’s snow-covered white clapboard town hall.
Asked how the U.S. can compete in a global economy, Giuliani said Americans should pay more attention to what they are selling abroad, and less attention to whether they are buying foreign goods.
Baring product security and safety issues, he said, “If what we buy is cheaper, less expensive, then it’s good for inflation. We should be more concerned about what we sell overseas. This is a great opportunity for us, we shouldn’t look at the global economy and be afraid of it.”
He said Americans should look at the millions of people emerging from poverty in India and China as potential customers, not as threats to jobs.
Giuliani also jokingly deferred one question to his Republican rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Hopkinton resident Richard “Stretch” Kennedy, an outspoken former conservative state representative, asked Giuliani what he wold do as president to help Hopkinton recover money that Kennedy said is owed to the town from Massachusetts, stemming from a multistate flood control project 30 years ago.
“You should ask Mitt Romney this question!” Giuliani said to laughter. After jokingly confirming with Kennedy that they had never met before, Giuliani said he would ask Romney about the issue in the next debate.
Kennedy said after the meeting he would look for an opportunity to ask Romney himself, “if I get a shot.”
At a later event at the home of Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta, Giuliani charged that Democratic presidential hopefuls would raise taxes to extraordinary levels.
“We are going to see our tax rates going up to 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 percent, 46 percent. Pretty soon when you add in other taxes we are going to go back to where we used to be, over 50 percent of your money going to the government. That makes the government the senior partner in your earnings. You should be the senior partner in your earnings.”
AP-ES-12-22-07 1718EST
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