While Mayor Giuliani has taken another small step toward running for president, he’s getting some unsolicited help in the key early primary states, Iowa and New Hampshire.

The former New York mayor filed a statement of organization for a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission, a top aide confirmed yesterday. Earlier this month he formed a similar committee with the New York Department of State with an eye toward “testing the waters” for a White House bid.

The filing comes as a federally registered committee based in Chicago, Draft Rudy Giuliani for President, is running a 60-second radio spot in Des Moines, Iowa, and Manchester, N.H., urging voters to sign a petition to encourage “America’s mayor” to enter the race.

The man behind the ads is Allen Fore, a former executive director of the Illinois Republican Party. Mr. Fore said he has never met Mr. Giuliani — nor has he had any contact with his aides — but he has admired him from afar for years. The former mayor is “the kind of leader we’re looking for now in the polarized Washington,” Mr. Fore said. “His leadership transcends the city of New York.”

Citing the former mayor’s “steady hand” and “steadfast leadership,” the radio ad highlights what is expected to be a central theme of a Giuliani candidacy: his stewardship of the city following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

“Five years ago Americans looked to our president first, but we also looked to another man to help us guide us through the darkness: Mayor Rudolph Giuliani,” a woman’s voice says in the ad. “He wasn’t just the mayor of New York. He was America’s mayor.”

A few seconds later, the same voice says, “As America begins to focus on who will be our next president, we want change. We want someone who will rise above partisan politics and get things done in a divided Washington.”

Recent polls have shown Mr. Giuliani and Senator McCain of Arizona as the top early contenders for the Republican nomination in 2008.

On November 10, Mr. Giuliani established an exploratory committee with New York State to formally “test the waters” for a presidential run. His decision to register with the state first, rather than with the FEC, initially raised questions about whether he was taking a more hesitant route to a fullfledged candidacy. But with yesterday’s disclosure of a federal filing, he joins Mr. McCain in forming a standard exploratory committee. A senior adviser to Mr. Giuliani said the move was procedural in nature and little more than “dotting the Is and crossing the Ts.”

Mr. Giuliani has said he will announce a firm decision about whether he is running early next year. He met last week with a group of deep-pocketed supporters from around the country to discuss fund-raising for a potential bid.

As Mr. Giuliani tries to build a network of key backers, Mr. Fore, 40, is focusing on the grass roots. After serving as the Illinois GOP executive director in 2001–02, he is now a lawyer and consultant based in St. Louis. He, along with another political consultant, Nicholas Tyszka, formed the Draft Giuliani committee about a year ago, but fund-raising has picked up in the last few months.

More than 10,000 people from across the country have signed a petition at draftrudygiuliani.com urging Mr. Giuliani to run, Mr. Fore said. The most recent campaign finance records show the Draft Giuliani committee had raised nearly $60,000 as of the end of September, although Mr. Fore said that figure is now closer to $100,000. He would not say how much the group spent on the radio spots, but he said he is hoping to run them in South Carolina, another early primary state, in the coming weeks.

A Giuliani spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel, declined to comment on the Draft Giuliani effort, saying the former mayor has had no contact with the group.

Political analysts say Mr. Giuliani may have trouble winning the GOP nomination because his views on social issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, and gun control are to the left of the Republican base. Mr. Fore described himself as “moderate to conservative” on social issues, but he said Mr. Giuliani’s leadership during and after September 11 was a more important factor.

Whether Republicans in Iowa, New Hampshire, and elsewhere will come to share that view is far from clear. A GOP county chairman in southeastern Iowa, Tom Broeker, said he was familiar with Mr. Giuliani from his role after the terrorist attacks, but also from his support for gun control, which Mr. Broeker said he strongly opposes. “That’s not going to endear him to the base, no,” he said.

In Manchester, N.H., a Republican county chairman, Gerard L. Thibodeau, said he had not heard the radio ad promoting Mr. Giuliani but had seen him speak twice and came away with a favorable impression. “He can stand and talk in front of a crowd,” Mr. Thibodeau said. “He’s not afraid to put himself on the line.” He added: “I think he’s going to make a formidable candidate.”