Giuliani Wants Hillary's Old Senate Seat...Next Stop Oval Office

Rudy Giuliani to run for U.S. Senate; If elected may aim for White House in 2012


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

A source familiar with Giuliani's thinking said the failed presidential candidate has been telling people he plans to run against Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2010 to fill out the remaining two years of Hillary Clinton's term.

If elected, the source said, he could use that as a stepping stone to run for President in 2012 - rather than run for re-election to the Senate.

A Giuliani spokeswoman downplayed the reports. "Rudy has a history of making up his own mind and has no problem speaking it," she said. "When Mayor Giuliani makes a decision about serving in public office, he will inform New Yorkers on his own."

His absence from the governor's race would be a boon -- and a bow -- to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is considering a run for the office.

Gov. Paterson, who trails Cuomo by up to points in a hypothetical matchup in some polls, insists he is running, even though the White House has pointedly told him President Obama would "prefer" he didn't.

Former Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari, a close Giuliani pal, said the former mayor had been privately sharing doubts with him for months about running for governor.

"What he said to me is that he doesn't think he's going to do it," Molinari told The News about an early November conversation with the former mayor.

"It just didn't make any sense to him." Molinari said the ongoing circus in the state Senate, combined with Democratic Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver's iron grip on Assembly matters, had convinced Giuliani that a Republican governor would have little ability to get things done quickly in Albany.

"The big drawback for him was -- could I really be effective?" Molinari said.

"He saw too many hang-ups there. He's not running for the title, that's for sure." Molinari said he favors the idea of Giuliani running for U.S. Senate. "Some of us, including myself, feel like that would be a better fit because he could use his talents there almost immediately," Molinari said.

"You get the sense that he'd be a major player [in the U.S. Senate] from day one."



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Sources: The Daily Beast, NY Daily News, Google Maps