Gimme Shelter
Look out, Rudy Giuliani. Your GOP bid for U.S. Senate could get crowded - and oh, by the way, here comes the president of the United States.
Giuliani, New York City's Republican mayor, is in a tight, tough U.S. Senate contest against Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democrat.
Over the weekend, a one-time Republican contender for the seat warned the GOP could be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. And President Clinton slammed Giuliani for relying on a "right-wing venom machine" in his battle with the first lady.
"We are in the process of potentially blowing this race," said Rep. Rick Lazio, R-N.Y., on ABC's This Week on Sunday.
Last year, the Long Island congressman shelved his senate bid at the urging of New York's top Republican, Gov. George Pataki. Despite tense relations between Pataki and Giuliani, the governor persuaded Lazio to put his run on hold, so Republicans could rally around the mayor against Mrs. Clinton, unopposed for the Democratic senate nod.
That was then, this is now. Giuliani's poll numbers are down over his handling of the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man in the Big Apple. And the mayor is unwilling to court the minor but influential Conservative Party, indispensible for any Republican to win a statewide race in New York.
Add all that up, said Lazio, and it spells trouble. While the congressman wouldn't say that Giuliani can't beat Mrs. Clinton, he did say he hasn't ruled out challenging the mayor for the GOP Senate nomination, either.
"What I'm prepared to say is we're less likely to win relative to myself or maybe even another candidate who can bring the party together," Lazio said.
With the GOP State Convention in Buffalo a month away, the congressman urged Gov. Pataki, as the Empire State's top Republican, to rethink his support of Giuliani.
Pataki's "got to say, `Listen, we've got some serious problems here. Hillary Rodham Clinton's numbers are moving up. More importantly the mayor's numbers are collapsing,'" said Lazio.
"What the political leadership and establishment in New York, I think, ought to be saying is, `Hey, let's look to find a candidate that can bring the party together, that can attract soft Democrats and independents, present a better, more positive, more inclusive message for Republicans and beat Hillary Clinton,'" he said.
Pataki's spokeswoman Suzanne Morris said on Sunday, "The governor strongly supports Mayor Giuliani and looks forward to beating Hillary Clinton in November."
Giuliani's campaign refused to comment, but the response from Mrs. Clinton's camp was swift and sharp.
"It is yet another sign of the deep concern that Republicans across the state have about Rudy Giuliani's ability to be effective in the Senate," said Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson.
Before Lazio's comments, President Clinton blasted Giuliani in all but name at a union fund raiser for the first lady'campaign in Washington, D.C.
The president claimed the "right wing" was aiding the mayor against his wife in the Senate race.
"The only way they can win is to convince people that we're space aliens," Mr. Clinton said. "That's why Hillary's opponent can raise a double-ton of money besides being mayor and having special relations with a lot of those people who have it in New York. And you have the right-wing venom machine all-geared up against her again."
So far, Giuliani has raised about $19 million for his campaign, the first lady $12 million.
In New York, Giuliani's campaign manager Bruce Teitelbaum replied, "Mayor Giuliani's fund-raising success is an outgrowth of the tremendous support he enjoys statewide, across a broad cross-spectrum of New Yorkers."
As for the "venom machine" comment, Teitelbaum said that statement echoed Mrs. Clinton's claim of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" against the president just as the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke.
"There they go again, invoking the vast right-wing conspiracy," said Teitelbaum. "Now where have we heard that one before?"
The president also sought to link Giuliani with Republican White House hopeful George W. Bush.
Mr. Clinton said of Giuliani: "When he wanted to be mayor of New York, he said, 'I'm a moderate.' When he wants to be senator from New York, he wants all the right-wingers to help Governor Bush win the nomination."