Rudy Giuliani's 2008 presidential campaign began following the formation of the Draft Giuliani movement in October 2005. The next year, Giuliani opened an exploratory committee and formally announced in February 2007 that he was actively seeking the presidential nomination of the Republican Party. At the onset of the campaign, Giuliani had held a significant lead in the nationwide polls by January 2007. His runner up in the polls, Senator John McCain, had his candidacy falter, and throughout 2007, Giuliani maintained his lead in both national polls and fundraising. Political observers predicted that Giuliani's position would fall, either due to Republican base voters discovering his liberal positions on certain social issues, his personality, management style or the entrance of former Senator Fred Thompson into the race. Giuliani did not campaign actively in the early voting states, hoping to simply survive in these states, and focused instead on the later, larger states. He campaigned in Florida throughout the primary season, hoping a win in the state's primary on January 29, 2008, would give him enough momentum to win the primaries on Super Duper Tuesday (February 5), where he had also campaigned heavily.