Friday, November 20, 2009

NYDN: Giuliani Will Run for Senate... then President

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has decided not to run for governor next - but will run for U.S. Senate instead, sources told the Daily News.

[...]

If elected, the source said, he would use that as a stepping stone to run for President in 2012 - and would not run for re-election to the Senate. A Giuliani spokeswoman downplayed the reports.


The polling on the race suggests that this could be a genuine possibility, with Rudy Giuliani leading Democratic incumbent Kirsten Gilibrand by a 51 percent to 40 percent margin in recent Marist polling and a 53 percent to 36 percent margin in recent Siena (.pdf) polling. What's more, considering that Giuliani isn't going to beat Andrew Cuomo, who many believe will end up being the Democrats' gubernatorial nominee, a decision to run for the Senate rather than for Governor makes sense on another level.

Then again, New Yorkers are going to vote for a Senator they know is going to immediately turn around and run for President, a Senator who would almost undoubtedly be an absentee legislator spending more time on the hustings in Iowa than in the halls of Congress? Hard to imagine.

To add... Do remember this: Giuliani hasn't found a big race he hasn't been willing to pull out of for some time. In 2008, Giuliani pulled out of Iowa. He then effectively pulled out of New Hampshire. Long before that he pulled out of the 2000 Senate campaign in New York against Hillary Clinton. Not exactly a track record of being able to withstand the rigor of a genuine campaign.

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