Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani didn't prove himself to be much of a force on the national scene when he ran for president last year. In fact, from the jump it seemed unlikely that he could capture the Republican nomination despite his personal and political history as something of a social liberal.
But the man still knows his home state, and if he's ever going to run for governor of it, the situation right now couldn't be better. Current Gov. David Paterson wasn't elected to the post -- he got the job when Eliot Spitzer resigned -- and he's decidedly unpopular, and currently overseeing a train wreck in the state senate.
For a little while now, Giuliani has been hinting at a run, or at least laying the groundwork for it so as to keep all his options open. And in an interview with CNN, he acknowledged "thinking about it. He added, however, "I don't know if I'm at the point of seriously considering it. It's a little too early."
Early polls show that Giuliani would cruise to victory over Paterson, but would have a tougher time of it if state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo captured the Democratic nomination; the former mayor's currently trailing Cuomo. If he did run, Giuliani also find himself in something of an odd situation, as his power base would likely be in upstate New York, rather than in his old stomping grounds, which is too liberal and still has too many people with unpleasant memories of his time as mayor.
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