Giuliani Still In The Game

A day after revealing he has prostate cancer, an upbeat Rudolph Giuliani said that he still wants to be senator but needs to determine a course of treatment before deciding on his candidacy.

“Hopefully I'll be able to do that and run and give you the kind of candidate you deserve.” Giuliani told about 1,000 upstate voters at a dinner Friday.

The New York City mayor was greeted with standing ovations and cheers at the $50-a-plate Saratoga County Women's Republican Club dinner.

Meanwhile, Arizona Sen. John McCain, a close friend and ally of the mayor, said he will stand in for Giuliani as he decides how to treat the disease, the New York Post reported in today's editions.

The maverick senator who won some presidential primaries this year before dropping out of that race aims to keep pressure on Democratic Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Giuliani, who announced his cancer diagnosis on Thursday, was asked who he would support if he decides not to run. “I'm not going to get into that. I know who I don't want to support,” he said.

Clinton, who phoned her get-well wishes to Giuliani on Thursday, was back in Washington on Friday, unveiling a study showing that children who spend their early years in quality day-care are less likely to be arrested down the road.

Earlier Friday, Giuliani made a brief appearance at City Hall, where he received a gift of get-well cannolis fresh from a Staten Island bakery.

Also Friday, the mayor, who has received hundreds of calls from well-wishers, returned many including one to Yankees Manager Joe Torre, who had surgery for prostate cancer last year.

“When you hear the word cancer, it's frightening. It's still frightening, but cancer is no longer a death sentence. That has to be first and foremost in your mind,” Torre said later during a pre-game media availability at Yankee Stadium.

Torre said the only advice he offered Giuliani was that he should listen to his doctors.

Giuliani said he will cut some of his campaign stops to make time for consultation with doctors.

The first cancellations were two speeches before lawyers' groups scheduled for Monday one in Syracuse, the other in Rochester. The speeches originally were scheduled as part of Giuliani's mayoral duties, not his Senate campaign, a spokeswoman said.

A scheduled stop Saturday in Buffalo, where Giuliani will court the support of the Independence Party, will proceed as planned, aides said. The first lady also plans to attend the event, a campaign spokesman said.