Rudy Heading to New Hampshire

Mitt Romney will make it official and announce his 2012 presidential campaign in New Hampshire on Thursday, June 2nd, but he won't be the only big political name in the home of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will headline the New Hampshire Republican Party's speaker series fundraiser Thursday night in Dover. "I am pleased to welcome Mayor Giuliani back to New Hampshire, and I am thrilled he has reached out to us to help us raise funds," said state GOP Chairman Jack Kimball.

It's a bit ironic that Giuliani would put himself in a position to steal some of Romney's thunder in the Granite State. In 2008 Giuliani was the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination for months before his team hatched a plan to basically bypass the crucial early states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and instead focus entirely on Florida.

The rest is history. By the time the campaign arrived in Florida, Giuliani was an afterthought and John McCain went on to claim Florida and the nomination. Romney already looks to be placing the lion's share of his bets on New Hampshire, a state where he also owns a home and spends a great deal of time.

Giuliani, on the other hand is still flirting with a run, but it looks like this time around he may be taking New Hampshire a bit more seriously.