Rudy's Still A-OK For Campaign

As far as Rudy Giuliani's camp is concerned, the New York City mayor will stay in his U.S. Senate fight against Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Empire State despite his recent prostate cancer diagnosis.

"It's not only my hope, but my expectation, that he will run," said Bruce Teitelbaum, campaign manager for Giuilani's GOP Senate bid, on Sunday.

"Hopefully, he'll pick a course of treatment that will give him a cure, a complete cure and then we'll be able to move forth aggressively, with a winning campaign. That's our hope, and I know the mayor shares my opinion," added Teitelbaum, who spoke on Fox News Sunday.

Teitelbaum said the mayor won't make a decision on cancer treatment or on the campaign for 10 days to two weeks. That will take up important campaign and fund-raising time before the New York State Republican convention in Buffalo on May 30.

Also Sunday, Hillary Clinton stayed away from any reference to the mayor in a speech to a Catholic organization of union electricians. The Democrat criticized the tax cut favored by GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush, but she left Giuliani - whom she's bashed in the past on the tax issue - out of her attack.

And the first lady did not mention the mayor when she told the audience, "This election season, it is not enough just to compare what the candidates say, or who looks good on TV, or who has the fastest response to the question, but instead to get below the surface and think very seriously, 'Are the policies going to help or hurt my family?"'

Clinton has been criticized for failing to comment immediately on news developments, while Giuliani is often more forthcoming with his opinions. Some political analysts predicted that the first lady would tone down her rhetoric against the mayor because it would be unseemly to attack him now that he has cancer.

So far, Giuliani's health seems not to have impacted the Senate race one way or the other.

Two statewide polls show the mayor and the first lady remain locked in a statistical dead heat as they have been for months - and as if Giuliani's prostate cancer diagnosis never happened.

A Quinnipiac College poll released Monday had Clinton favored by 46 percent of voters to 44 percent for Giuliani. That's statistically unchanged from a Quinnipiac poll in early April that had Clinton at 46 percent and Giuliani at 43 percent.

The statewide poll was taken from Monday of last week through Sunday of this week. And the Hamden, Conn.-based institute said there was no shift in the poll results after the mayor's cancer news on Thursday.

"Beyond the compassion that everyone feels, Mayor Giuliani's prostate cancer has yet to have an impact on the Senate race" polls, said Maurice Carroll, director of the polling institute.

And a Zogby International poll released over the weekend closely mirrored the Quinnipiac results - Giuliani and Clinton each received 43 percent in that statewide survey. Th Zogby poll was conducted on Friday night and Saturday, as Empire State voters digested the news of the mayor's cancer - and his possible withdrawal from the Senate race because of it.

If Giuliani dropped out, Republicans and non-Republicans in the Zogby poll favored New York Gov. George Pataki as the "best choice" to take his place. Long Island Congressman Rick Lazio was a distant second choice. Of all Republicans asked, 47 percent named Pataki and 16 percent picked Lazio, who in recent months has considered challenging Giuliani for the GOP Senate nod. Among all voters, the results were 41 percent and 14 percent respectively.

In a hypothetical matchup, the Zogby poll showed Pataki slightly ahead of Mrs. Clinton.

As for Giuliani, 82 percent of New Yorkers in the Zogby poll said the mayor is a "strong candidate" for U.S. Senate despite Thursday's cancer disclosure, while 70 percent think he will remain in the race. Twelve percent said the diagnosis meant Giuliani was no longer a strong candidate - the same percentage said it meant the mayor would not run.

In upstate New York, the Zogby poll found Giuliani maintaining his lead over Clinton among 48 to 36 percent, though that lead was down from the 52 to 38 percent lead in a Zogby-Colgate University poll last week. Upstate is considered a key battleground in the Senate race, because about 45 percent of general election votes in New York are cast by upstate residents.

Overall, Giuliani had a 52 to 33 percent lead among white voters in the Zogby poll, while Clinton led among blacks with 89 percent for her and 2 percent for him - and among Hispanics, 73 to 17 percent. The candidates were tied among Jewish voters - each nabbing 43 percent.

The Quinnipiac poll of 952 registered New York voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The Zogby poll for the New York Post and Fox of 601 likely voters has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.