Rudy To Run For U.S. Senate?
Tags: Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrats, Rick Lazio, Rudy Giuliani, U.S. Senate
Nothing confirmed yet (last I heard), so this is probably a trial balloon. That said, I really hope it is true.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has decided against running for governor, but is strongly considering running for U.S. Senate instead, sources told the Daily News.
The Republican heavyweight was considered the GOP’s best shot at reclaiming the governor’s mansion.
The only declared candidate on the Republican side is little-known former Long Island Rep. Rick Lazio.
One source said Giuliani is prepared to run for U.S. Senate against Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2010 to fill out the remaining two years of Hillary’s Clinton’s term.
But a number of sources close to the former mayor said no decision has been made and a Giuliani spokeswoman downplayed the reports.
This is good for a number of reasons. For one thing, polls showed he can beat Gillibrand. So, at the very least, his running for the U.S. Senate will force Democrats no invest time, money, and energy on what would normally be a safe seat.
The next reason is that if Giuliani runs for the U.S. Senate, this help Rick Lazio’s gubernatorial campaign… just by having both names on the general election ballot. With Barack Obama reminding voters daily why the GOP needs to be back in power, and certainly with New York Democrats running the state into the ground, the opportunities to make gains in the Empire State are very much real.
One rumor is that Giuliani is to run for Senate with the goal of using that as a springboard for running for president again in 2012 rather than run for reelection. This, I have to say, bothers me. If Rudy is gonna run for Senate, I want him to promise to run for and serve at least one full term.
Matt Margolis is co-author (with Mark Noonan) of Caucus of Corruption: The Truth About The New Democratic Majority. He also blogs at Blogs For Victory. Follow Matt on Twitter.
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Leave a comment
