A Changed Man

The New York Senate race may well have hit its dramatic peak with New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's Friday afternoon announcement that he was dropping out of the running. The odds-on favorite right now to step in is Long Island Congressmen Rick Lazio.

But whomever the state GOP ultimately taps to face off against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, it's unlikely that he or she will supply the sort of pyrotechnics for which we've come to count on Giuliani.

After Friday's press conference, though, it seems reasonable to wonder if Giuliani himself is getting out of the political fireworks business. The mayor is going through an amazing transformation before our very eyes, as he looks within himself and discovers that his core, as he put it, is not in politics.

To be sure, we have seen a more conciliatory and humane Mayor Giuliani since his announcement three weeks ago that he was in the early stages of prostate cancer. His marital woes and revelations about affairs have also cast him in a more close-up, human light than we're accustomed to seeing him in.

Giuliani may have left the national stage for the time being, but the Senate race's loss may well be New York City's gain, at least for fans of political drama. Giuliani spoke of rededicating himself to the job he loves - being mayor of New York. And New Yorkers may have a number of surprises in store, if the past few weeks have been any indication.

At a town hall forum this past Thursday night, Giuliani admitted - two months after the fact - that he made mistakes in handling the fatal police shooting of Patrick Dorismond, an unarmed black man. Giuliani, if you recall, rushed to release Dorismond's sealed juvenile record, in an effort to paint the victim as possibly being responsible for his own death. On Thursday, though, he expressed his regrets that he was not more compassionate, if only for the sake of Dorismond's mother.

And at Friday's press conference, he admitted that he may be responsible for some of the divisions in his city. A month ago, this sort of demeanor seemed all but unthinkable from the tough-as-nails former prosecutor.

But a month, ladies and gentlemen, is forever in politics - a fact that pundits and prognosticators forget at their own peril and that recent events in New York serve to remind us.