Rudy: His Own Worst Enemy?
If all politics are local, then the leader of America's largest city could live or die by that in November.
New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is a strong contender for the U.S. Senate from the Empire State because of his tough-on-crime, tough-as-nails administration with results to match.
But the latest fatal shooting of an unarmed black man in the Big Apple - and Hizzoner's response to that and similar recent tragedies - are raising political questions, even among fellow Republicans.
"Others would acknowledge a mistake and move on, but I just don't remember the last time Rudy Giuliani acknowledged any kind of a mistake," said Nelson Warfield, a New York Republican who helped run Bob Dole's 1996 run for the White House.
Could Giuliani's strong suit now be morphing into a political straitjacket in his Senate bid to defeat Hillary Rodham Clinton?
"He's handing her the race," said pollster John Zogby.
A new Zogby poll indicates little change in the statistical tie between Democrat Clinton and Republican Giuliani. But the little - however slight - points towards the First Lady. The Zogby International poll of likely voters in Sunday's New York Post gave Clinton 45 percent to Giuliani's 42 percent in the Senate race. Three weeks ago, that same poll put Giuliani ahead of Clinton, 49 percent to 42 percent - also a dead heat.
The statewide telephone poll of 710 likely voters conducted on Friday and Saturday has a four percent margin of error.
Zogby said one reason for the shift is the Mayor's handling of the case of Patrick Dorismond, shot to death by New York City police on March 16. At first, the Mayor urged citizens to wait until all the facts of the case were known, but then he swiftly switched gears. Giuliani not only defended the police as he has before; he also released Dorismond's criminal record - including sealed juvenile records.
Democrats and a few Republicans blasted Giuliani for all that - and for failing to offer condolences to Dorismond's family. On Saturday, several people were injured when mourners and police clashed after Dorismond's funeral in Brooklyn. That episode capped off a week that saw Giuliani defensive - and on the defensive.
By Sunday, the rhetoric had cooled a bit, but not the criticism. Mrs. Clinton's campaign manager, Bill de Blasio, said on Fox News Sunday that Rev. Jesse Jackson had gone too far in questioning Giuliani's sanity.
"With all due respect to Reverend Jackson, I don't think Hillary or any of the rest of us agree with that. The Mayor clearly is divisive. That's the thing you can say here. But you can't go beyond that...any further comment beyond that is just unfair."
Even so, the Clinton camp once again painted Giuliani as lacking the temperament to serve in the Senate.
No stranger to controversy herself, Mrs. Clinton told New York magazine she's developed a thick skin over the years - implying, unlike you-know-who.
"Part of what I bring is that there is nothing anybody can say about me that will hurt my feelings," she told the magazine. "I cannot be insulted. You know, I just can't be."
Warfield, the Empire State Republican who considers the Mayor's handling of the case "a mistake", said Giuliani "can inflict the worst damage on himself."
But Kieran Mahoney, a top political adviser to Gov. George Pataki and other New York Republicans, said he saw no damage to the Mayor.
"Is anybody surprised...he is what he is," said Mahoney, who - like Warfield - is not involved in the Senate race.
Jay Severin, another New York GOP political operative not involved in the race, said he saw perhaps even an advantage for Giuliani.
"They walk away from this with Rudy having recertified his credentials as someone who will crack down on crime, support the police and make the streets safe,"
"Mrs. Clinton looks like she's soft on crime, sort of a knee-jerk liberal and she's on the stage with Al Sharpton. That's a good trade for Team Giuliani."
Still, Warfield warned, "My fear is that in this circumstance, he goes beyond being tough and into being ruthless and there's not much of a vote out there for ruthless."
"It takes his greatest strength and makes it into his greatest weakness. Voters don't like mean candidates."
Voter turnout in the fall will yield the final verdict. Polls show black voters overwhelmingly for Clinton against Giuliani, but their turnout rates are much lower than for white voters.