HOLLIS, N.H. (AP) – Rudy Giuliani was content to sit back and watch his two chief rivals criticize each other Sunday, just two days before voters in New Hampshire cast the first primary ballots of the campaign.

Giuliani, who badly trails his rivals in recent polling, refused to level criticism of rivals John McCain or Mitt Romney and came to their defense. Such a soft touch is a counter to how Romney and McCain have engaged in fierce comparisons during the campaign’s final days here in New Hampshire.

“I have, as I do with Mitt, I have great respect for John McCain. And in fact John is a personal friend so this campaign for me is not against John McCain or against anyone else,” Giuliani told C-SPAN after a house party here in Hollis.

He declined to even say he was running against them. Talking with reporters in Nashua, he said he could see his rivals “running with me.”

So as McCain and Romney scuffle, Giuliani has stayed back and let them bloody each other.

“I have great respect for Mitt Romney. I campaigned for Mitt Romney when he ran for governor. I consider him a friend. I think he’s accomplished a great deal in business. He’s accomplished a great deal as a governor,” said Giuliani, who on Sunday picked up the endorsement of the New England Police Benevolent Association in Nashua.

But at his Hollis house party, one voter asked him about his Cabinet’s make up. He said such predictions would be presumptuous, but added: “The Cabinet would look like last night’s debate – with one exception.”

He didn’t specify which rival – Romney or Texas Rep. Ron Paul – from his Cabinet, he joked in Nashua with reporters: “I think you know who I was talking about. Come on. That was pretty obvious.”

He declined to predict a finish with reporters, saying he would do “the very best I can do. I’m not a handicapper. Every time I try to do that with horses, it doesn’t work well. … Let’s see what the results are on Tuesday.”

He also declined to explain why he has spent so much time in New Hampshire and yet isn’t doing better in the polls.

“My candidacy is an unconventional candidacy. I mean, from the day I started, I was the candidate that couldn’t get nominated. The Republican Party wouldn’t nominate me. I don’t know how often I read those stories back a year ago.”

Giuliani has little hope of winning New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary. Recent polls of likely primary voters place him at a distant third – or worse – behind McCain and Romney.

Giuliani’s campaign has long said it would focus on a strategy that begins in Florida and explodes on Feb. 5, when more than 20 states vote. Giuliani has said the early states lack delegates and don’t guarantee a nomination.

He dismissed criticism from Romney for the strategy.

“Mitt has his own struggle. These elections, they go up and down. We’re all in a different position at different times. … The reality is that we sit in a pretty good spot. We’re ahead in something like 16 or 18 of the primaries coming up. … His strategy had been to emphasize two states. Our strategy has been to give a proportionate emphasis to a number of states. Nobody knows if his strategy is going to work. At this point, our strategy looks like it has a good chance of working.”

He told a C-SPAN caller that the criticism is part of the campaign.

“If you’re asking me if governor Romney is a very qualified person and a person that I admire, the answer to that is yes. Does that mean we don’t occasionally criticize each other in the heat of a campaign, of course, I mean that happens,” he said. “But I think what you will find is that these Republican candidates have far more that we agree about than we disagree about.”

He later pointed to Saturday’s night debate when the Republican and Democratic candidates shared a stage.

“Everyone talks about returning civility to politics. I think that was more symbolic – let’s say, that was even more than symbolic. I thought that was a very nice thing. … Everyone got to shake hands. Even just on an emotional level, it gives you a sense that you do share something in common, even if you have big disagreements over taxes, Iraq, other things. We’re all sharing in common this desire to try and serve America, to try and help America. We all think we can do it best. We respect other people who go through what we went through what we go through.”

AP-ES-01-06-08 1426EST