Rick Who?

Walk into the office of New York Congressman Rick Lazio, and the first thing that strikes you are all the crayon drawings hung on the walls. To Daddy, all the family photos on the side tables, and all those familiar paperweights scattered on his desk - the ones we all got our dads for every birthday and FatherÂ's Day. It might look like the office of a young, freshman member of Congress. ItÂ's not.

Forty-one-year-old Rick Lazio is a four-term, pro-choice, Republican lawmaker, assistant House Majority Leader, and member of the House Banking Committee. He is also, depending on whom you ask, the thorn in the side or the savior of New York StateÂ's Republican Party.

In an interview with CBS News this week, Lazio opened the door to re-entering New YorkÂ's heavyweight bout for the U.S. Senate. He bowed out last fall, under pressure from party leaders.

"I think the sort-of Republican establishment came to the conclusion at that time anyway that the best way to beat a celebrity was with another celebrity," Lazio said, but, in the same breath, "I was ahead of the First Lady among independent voters and ahead of the First Lady among suburban voters, both very important swing populations for a successful candidate."

So is he ready to take a swing in this fight?

"I donÂ't know if I want to put odds on that, but I will say that IÂ'm going to be traveling around the state...and IÂ'm going to continue to accept invitations around the state and talk about the things I think our party ought to be embracing."

Lazio claims he would run a positive campaign, and, he admits, much of his decision depends on GOP presidential candidate John McCain.

"ThereÂ's little question if McCain can keep this ride going, itÂ's a powerful lure to Rick Lazio to say IÂ'll take on the establishment, and wrap myself in McCainÂ's cloak and maybe I can do the same thing at the state level that heÂ's done at the federal level," says political analyst Norm Ornstein.

And that would mean one great, big, expensive, headache, says Ornstein, for the undeclared, but already-running, New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani.

"He wants to keep the focus as much as he possibly can for the next nine months on Hillary Rodham Clinton as the issue. A primary means that Rudy Giuliani becomes the issue."

Giuliani is famous for cleaning up New York City, but heÂ's made something of a mess upstate. He snubbed the stateÂ's Republican governor by supporting a Democrat in the last election, and he has rebuffed New YorkÂ's small but highly influential Conservative Party, which is now gelling behind Lazio. No Republican has won statewide in 25 years without the Conservative Party endorsement.

Giuliani also has trouble with voters outside of New York City, where heÂ's known less for his accomplishments and more for what has been called a nasty, vindictive temperament. Conservatives go so far as to call him a thug. And the fight between Hillary and Rud is already not just the most expensive, but perhaps one of the nastiest ever.

New Yorkers in the end will reject that negativity, Lazio claims. "They have been through it frankly with the last Senate race. I think they are fatigued with that negativity."

But all the signs show Rudy will take on Lazio with the same vengeance he does Hillary.

"I think it would be great," said Giuliani at a news briefing. Then, when asked if he would back out should Lazio jump in, the Mayor, in true form, sarcastically snipped, "Oh, no, IÂ'd back out immediately. You guys have covered me for how long? Even if I wasnÂ't going to run, I would then run."

Candidate Hillary has not publicly commented on the issue.

Lazio says heÂ's now in a battle between his head and his heart. If he followed his heart, he muses, heÂ'd be in it, but his head knows that would cost a lot of money and possibly cost the Republican Party its already swerving solidarity.

But it would make this race just that much juicier. A candidate without any baggage (that we know of) suddenly jumps in between two baggage-laden, brawling personalities. For now he looks like a referee. WeÂ'll see, when he shows his true stripes.