When he addressed the conservative gathering earlier, Giuliani invoked the legacy of Ronald Reagan 15 times and skirted any discussion of gay rights, gun control or abortion, all hot-button social issues on which he has a relatively liberal record.

References to President Bush or his father, President George H.W. Bush were conspicuously absent when the six presidential aspirants addressed the convocation on Friday.

Giuliani recited what he described as successes in his two terms as mayor of New York City by cutting taxes, cutting the homicide rate in half, bolstering public education and making the city bureaucracy more receptive to business enterprises.

Giuliani appealed for conservatives' support despite differences over some issues that he did not specify.

"We don't all see eye to eye on everything," Giuliani said. "You and I have a lot of common beliefs that are the same and we have some that are different. . . . The point of a presidential election is to figure out who do you believe the most and what do you think are the most important things for this country at a particular time."

Giuliani, 62, has been married three times since 1968 — 14 years to educator Regina Peruggi; more than 16 years to New York television personality Donna Hanover, with whom he had two children; and since 2003 to Judith Nathan, with whom he has a stepdaughter.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee called the three day gathering "the conservative presidential anxiety conference" with attendees wondering, "Dude, where's my candidate?"

Huckabee continued: "I'd like to think that maybe he's standing in front of you."

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E-mail: stewart@hearstdc.com