Giuliani for Senate?

According to the NY Times-and almost everyone else-Rudy Giuliani will not run for governor in the upcoming year: "Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has decided not to run for governor of New York next year after months of mulling a candidacy, according to people who have been told of the decision."

The prospect of going mano-a-mano with Andrew Cuomo was apparently enough to dissuade the former NYC mayor: "It was not clear what prompted the decision, but the prospect of potentially facing Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who is quietly planning his own run for governor on the Democratic ticket, may not have appealed to Mr. Giuliani, who suffered a bruising defeat in the 2008 Republican presidential primary. While many political analysts believe Mr. Giuliani would have comfortably beaten Gov. David A. Paterson, he would likely have faced an uphill battle against Mr. Cuomo, one of the most popular politicians in the state."

Still, it does leave open the possibility of a senate run against novice Gillibrand. As Liz points out: "A source close to new state GOP Chairman Ed Cox, who had been pushing Giuliani to run for the US Senate and not for governor, said allies of the former mayor have "made it clear" he isn't going to make a bid for the executive mansion...According to this source, a potential challenge by Giuliani to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is still on the table."

In our view, this would be a good thing because it would generate a competitive senate race against someone who has only demonstrated an ability to be the ultimate chameleon-and there are too many important issues extant to allow both NY senate races to become cake walks. As far as the current junior senator is concerned, her flipping and flopping around has gotten us dizzy-and has lead us to believe that she simply has no core beliefs.

With a Giuliani in the race, health care, stimulus, taxes, cap and trade and KSM will really be part of a vigorous public debate. It would be a good thing for New York-and not only because it would drive Al Sharpton absolutely nuts.

Update

Marist Poll should have Gillibrand hearing foot steps: "Giuliani leads U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democrat appointed by Governor David Paterson to fill the vacant seat left by Hillary Clinton. 54% of registered voters statewide would vote for Giuliani compared with 40% who would support Gillibrand. Even one-third of Democrats report they would back the Republican challenger, and Giuliani runs competitively against Gillibrand in overwhelmingly Democratic New York City."