Rep. Pete King: Giuliani 'very close to running' for president

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is "very close to running" for president, one of his top political allies said Thursday.

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), whose own name has been floated as a possible presidential candidate, said that Giuliani is inclined to make a second attempt for the Republican presidential nomination.

"At this moment, he's very much inclined to run," King said on Fox News. "I would say right now he's very close to running."

Giuliani ran for the nomination in 2008 and was for a period the front-runner in early polling. But he skipped a number of early primary states in order to focus on Florida, by which point a number of voters had moved on to other candidates.

King said that the former New York City mayor had learned from his mistakes in the 2008 campaign, and would focus intensely on New Hampshire, and run a more bare-bones operation.

"As of now, he very much wants to run," King said. "This time he would focus on New Hampshire — that's where his main emphasis would be."