After looking beyond NH during 2008 campaign, Giuliani returns to collect primary award

Giuliani an unlikely honoree for NH primary role

CONCORD, N.H. — In 2008, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani couldn’t get out of New Hampshire fast enough after his fourth-place finish in the nation’s first Republican presidential primary.

Next week, he’ll come back to get an award from the Political Library at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics that recognizes strong support for the state’s first-in-the-nation status.

His selection has raised some eyebrows, given that his campaign put little stock in the traditional roles of Iowa and New Hampshire and focused on delegate-rich states that voted later.

But officials say Giuliani is being honored as much for his actions since the campaign as during — he has acknowledged he should have spent more time in the state and promotes it as having an important role.