Rudy Giuliani, the Republican candidate for presidency, ended his stay at the St. Louis hospital after he checked in yesterday. He underwent a series of tests for flu-like symptoms and the results turned out normal.

"I feel great. Take care. Merry Christmas, I'm feeling fine thanks to the hospital. They did a great job,'' said Giuliani with a smile on his face as he left the Barnes-Jewish Hospital so he could continue his campaign trip to New York.

He arrived in “the Big Apple” late Thursday and spoke to the press outside his Manhattan apartment building.

The 63-year-old former New York mayor was to spend Friday off the campaign trail. According to his aides he would make planned stops in New Hampshire on Saturday and Sunday.

His wife Judith spoke with the reporters in New York and gave some details about how the decision to spend the night at the hospital was reached.

"A decision was made last night when he had a severe headache and flu-like symptoms on his way home from Missouri to land the plane. EMS then performed a small evaluation and decided that for precautionary measures they would take him to Barnes-Jewish Hospital,'' she said.
However, Giuliani’s Thursday schedule was already clear of public appearances before the symptoms appeared and determined the presidency candidate to make the unexpected stop.

His wife added he would have a follow-up visit with his physician.

His health wasn’t the only unexpected problem to occur lately. Wall Street Journal/NBC News’s latest survey released on Wednesday shows that Giuliani has fallen 13 points to 22 percent since November and is tied with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney nationally in the race for the Republican nomination.

According to the poll results, Mike Huckabee received the support of 17 percent of Republicans and John McCain by 14 percent.

Giuliani was the foremost leader in all previous NBC/Journal polls. Last month he led the field with support of 33 percent of those questioned. The state-by-state process for choosing candidates for the November 2008 election starts on January 3 in Iowa.