National

Giuliani Cleared to Leave Missouri Hospital

Published December 20, 2007 at 6:23 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

GOP presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani was cleared to leave a Missouri hospital Thursday after spending the night for flu-like symptoms. Here, he speaks during a Republican presidential debate last week in Iowa.

Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani was permitted to travel home to New York on Thursday after spending the night in a St. Louis hospital for flu-like symptoms.

"After precautionary tests the doctors found nothing of concern at this time and Rudy will be going back to New York later today," Katie Levinson, communications director for his campaign, said.

"He is in high spirits and is grateful to the doctors and nurses who checked him out," Levinson said in a statement issued before dawn.

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The former New York City mayor felt the symptoms while in Missouri, and they worsened as the day progressed. Not long after leaving Chesterfield, Mo., he became uncomfortable enough for the plane to turn around.

"To be on the safe side, the mayor consulted with his personal physician in New York and made the decision to go to the Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis for routine tests," Levinson said.

Giuliani is devoting more of his attention to the delegate-rich Feb. 5 states — some two dozen states, including New York, California and New Jersey, that hold primaries and caucuses that day — while spending limited time in Iowa and New Hampshire.

That approach challenges tradition, but Missouri, a Feb. 5 state, has gotten little campaign attention despite its 58 delegates. That's as many as are up for grabs in Iowa and New Hampshire combined.

Campaigning Wednesday in Missouri, Giuliani had used a baseball analogy to explain his reasons for targeting the "Show Me" state when other candidates are focused on Iowa and New Hampshire, where Giuliani trails his rivals in polls.

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"A baseball game — you've got to play nine innings and whoever gets the most runs at the end of the nine innings wins," he told reporters. "So here, you've got to play in 29 primaries. Nobody's going to win all of them; that's for sure."

Giuliani's schedule for Thursday was already clear of public appearances before his illness.

From NPR reports and The Associated Press