Giuliani released from hospital after brief stay

GOP presidential hopeful was examined by doctors for flu-like symptoms

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Giuliani leaves hospital
Dec. 20: Rudy Giuliani was sidelined in St. Louis after suffering flu-like symptoms. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports.

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updated 4:08 p.m. ET Dec. 20, 2007

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Republican Rudy Giuliani was released from a St. Louis hospital Thursday afternoon after getting checked out for flu-like symptoms, his campaign said.

"After precautionary tests the doctors found nothing of concern at this time and Rudy will be going back to New York later today," communications director Katie Levinson said in a statement issued before dawn Thursday. "He is in high spirits and is grateful to the doctors and nurses who checked him out."

The former New York City mayor felt the symptoms while campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in Missouri, and they soon became worse, Levinson said late Wednesday.

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She did not describe the symptoms beyond those being commonly associated with the flu.

"The symptoms worsened as the day wore on and shortly after taking off from Chesterfield, Missouri, for New York the mayor became uncomfortable enough that our plane returned to the airport in Chesterfield," Levinson said. "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."

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His Thursday schedule was already clear of public appearances before the unexpected stop in St. Louis.

The former mayor has been the leader in national polls for much of the year, but recently former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has challenged Giuliani's standing.