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Thursday, Nov 19, 2009 6:54 PM UTC

Report: Giuliani not running for governor; Senate instead?

The former New York City mayor is reportedly considering a run against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

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Topics: 2010 Elections, War Room, New York, Rudy Giuliani,

If the New York Times is right, we won’t have Rudy Giuliani to kick around next year, because he’s decided not to make a run for governor.

There’s been no official announcement so far — the Times sources their report to “people who have been told of the decision.” And the National Review’s Jim Geraghty writes that he has “a reliable source close to Giuliani” who says the former mayor of New York City hasn’t yet made a decision.

If Giuliani has opted not to get in the race, thoughl, it probably would be a good decision. It’d be one thing if he were running against incumbent Gov. David Paterson, whose unpopularity rivals even former Vice President Dick Cheney’s. But Paterson’s widely expected to lose in his quest for the Democratic nomination to state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who’d be a much more formidable opponent in the general election. And if Giuliani loses two races in two years, especially after the way his presidential campaign crumbled, he’d stand to lose quite a bit in terms of his credibility and visibility in politics as well.

Update: The New York Daily News is reporting that Giuliani will be announcing, within the next 48 hours, that he’s not running for governor, but is running for Senate instead, against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Gillibrand was appointed to fill out Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s term — Clinton, as you may remember, won election to the Senate in 2000 after Giuliani opted not to run against her.

Update 2: For what it’s worth, Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella e-mailed Politico’s Ben Smith to deny the report that he’s decided to run for Senate. That said, a situation like this, when a politician is pondering a run for office, official denials aren’t necessarily all that trustworthy. That’s not to say Comella’s denial is definitely not credible — or that it is credible — just that, in general, the decision to run is generally denied right up until the point when it’s announced.

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman.

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