Rudy: Don't Count Me Out

Hillary Vows To Continue Vigorous Campaign

(CBS)  Less than a day after revealing to reporters that he wants a formal separation from his wife, Donna Hanover, Rudy Giuliani insisted Thursday he has not made a decision about the Senate race, doubts about which have swirled since he announced on April 27 he has prostate cancer.

"I haven't made up my mind if I have the energy and the capacity to run," he said at a news conference, dismissing what he called "false rumors" from anonymous sources who suggested he would quit his bid for the Senate.

"Rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated," Giuliani said.

On Wednesday, the New York City mayor announced the news about Hanover, his wife of 16 years, at a press event. His pained, halting delivery was a striking change from his usual public style of banter.

Donna Hanover (AP)

"Donna and I ... in many ways lead independent and separate lives," Giuliani said slowly. "It's been a very painful road ... and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to formalize that in an agreement that protects our children, gives them all the security and protection they deserve."

Obviously emotional, Giuliani almost looked on the verge of tears. Moreover, it was reported the mayor did not even alert his wife before he went public.

"From what I understand, Donna Hanover did not know that Rudy Giuliani was going to make this announcement yesterday," Lisa Birnbach, who writes about the mayor, told Jane Clayson on the CBS News Early Show Thursday morning.

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But by Thursday afternoon, the mayor seemed to have regained his usual composure.

By anyone's standards, it's been a very tough few weeks for the mayor. First came the diagnosis of his prostate cancer. He's still deciding, with his doctors, the best treatment for the disease, and it's not yet certain if that treatment will compel him to end his run against Hillary Clinton for New York's Senate seat.

Judith Nathan (AP)

Then came word of the mayor's friendship with Judith Nathan, a woman with whom the mayor was spotted several times. Questioned about it, Giuliani conceded that she is a "very good friend" - a phrase he used yet again on Wednesday. Photographers started dogging her footsteps, and speculation mounted about the nature of her rlationship with the mayor. Yet a poll in a local paper showed most New Yorkers didn't care about that relationship, and didn't think it should affect Giuliani's race for the Senate.

But that didn't stop a New York state Republican lawmaker, who fretted over the situation just hours before the mayor's Wednesday announcement. Joseph Bruno, the state senate majority leader, told an Albany radio station he was "concerned" about Giuliani's friendship with Nathan.

"I'm concerned because I'm afraid it will detract really from the real issues as to who is the most capable individual to represent New York state in Washington," he said.

Bruno added he hoped Giuliani and Hanover would somehow reconcile and "do whatever it is they think is in their best interest."

Senator Bruno had no comment after word came that Giuliani is considering a separation. And Hillary Clinton said she had no comment on the matter either, which wasn't surprising, since she's hardly likely to offer public pronouncements on how to handle marriage woes.

"The irony of it is, some other candidates might have been able to take advantage of it, but Hillary Clinton won't be able to," said Republican strategist John McLaughlin about the latest Giuliani bombshell. "Hillary Clinton, with her personal background, with her husband, is not going to be one who takes advantage of this."
Hanover, blinking back tears, told reporters after her husband's announcement that she felt "great sadness" about Wednesday's turn of events. She said her marriage had been a difficult one, due in part to her husband's "relationship with one staff member." She added she had made an effort to revive the 16-year marriage last May, but said Giuliani ultimately "chose another path."

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Reports three years ago implied an affair between the mayor and his then-director of communicaions, Cristyne Lategano-Nicholas, who has since left City Hall and was recently married.

She said Wednesday, "I have no desire to speculate why Donna Hanover decided to issue the statement that she did. Understandably, this is a difficult time. I wish both the mayor and Donna Hanover a successful resolution."

The temptation to speculate on what impact, if any, a separation would have on Giuliani's run for the Senate was irresistible. His campaign manager released a statement Wednesday saying, "The campaign itself remains all systems go."

But some New York observers are starting to think that Giuliani has one too many personal problems to continue in the race.

"There's a limit to how much any human being can do with their life at one point in time," said New York Times columnist Gail Collins.

"And I would say running the city, running for Senate, dealing with cancer and dealing with sort of a private crisis in his marriage is more than enough for anybody's plate. One more thing and we just explode!"

And pollster Lee Miringoff, head of the Marist Institute of Public Opinion, said, "Up until today, I thought he was running." But now, "there's much more uncertainty. Little by little, the picture becomes more cloudy."

It isn't that a separation, in and of itself, is likely to bother voters. It's rather the cumulative impact of the upheavals in Giuliani's life. "Voters probably want some sense of stability and order and a little less turmoil coming out of the Giuliani side," observed Miringoff.

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Add that to Giuliani's almost half-hearted campaign - which has been surprisingly subdued and which has ventured rarely into upstate New York - and you can easily imagine the mayor dropping out of the race. He might choose to concentrate on resolving the immediate problems confronting his personal life, and wait to run for New York governor in twyears instead.

For her part, Giuliani's Senate rival says she's going ahead with business as usual on the campaign trail.

"I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing," the first lady said Wednesday following a campaign event at the Syracuse Hebrew Day School.

Asked about the mayor's announcement of separation discussions, Clinton said, "I don't have anything to say."