He probably won’t run for New York governor but might for the U.S. Senate … or will he?
     
That’s the speculation swirling around Rudy Giuliani, the Republican former New York City mayor who walked tall after the Sept. 11 attacks and ran for U.S. president in 2008.
    
A spokeswoman says the 65-year-old former federal prosecutor has made no decisions.
    
But the New York Daily News, the New York Times  and the New York Post  all report that Giuliani has decided not to run for New York governor in 2010.
    
Analysts think he could defeat Democratic incumbent Governor David Paterson without much fuss. But overcoming a possible challenge from New York’s Democratic attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, could be have been difficult. Cuomo has not announced his candidacy.
    
The Daily News reports that Giuliani is strongly considering a Senate run against Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to fill out the remaining two years of Hillary Clinton’s term. Clinton, who lost in last year’s Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama, is now U.S. secretary of state.

The Daily News cites poll numbers showing Giuliani losing to Cuomo 53 percent to 43 percent in a race for governor,  but beating Gillibrand 54 percent to 40 percent for the Senate.

But the Senate speculation may not last long.

The New York Post quotes people close to Giuliani as saying a run for the Senate is unlikely.

And even the Daily News  seems to be hedging its bets with a story saying Giuliani doesn’t need to run for the Senate because he already has plenty of money and influence and a private life that’s working out just fine.
    
Giuliani ran for the Senate in a 2000 campaign that pitted him against Clinton. But events and declining poll numbers were against him and he withdrew after a quick succession of revelations: he had prostate cancer, he had a girlfriend, and he was separating from his second wife.
    
Giuliani has since beaten cancer, divorced his second wife, Donna Hanover, and married his former girlfriend, Judith Nathan.

Photo Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Giuliani)

NEW YORK - It’s a Sunday, Democrat Barack Obama is abroad, and John McCain is where? At a baseball game.  

The Republican presidential candidate, who is hoping to draw some attention away from his White House rival’s high profile trip to Europe and the Middle East, kicked off his week by taking in an afternoon of America’s favorite game.

Who needs to go to the Middle East to be hot?

Dressed in a cap and sunglasses on a boiling day, McCain joined his friend and former rival Rudy Giuliani at Yankee Stadium, signing baseballs for surprised fans and enjoying a hot dog. 

Giuliani, a big supporter of the Arizona senator since failing in his own bid for their party’s nomination, slipped in a few digs at Obama, who spent the weekend in Afghanistan.

“I think the fact that Barack Obama is kind of making his first tour, in essence, of the world, gives you an indication that John McCain is the man with the experience,” the former New York City mayor told reporters at the stadium, according to a pool report.

“John doesn’t have to go for the first or second time to these places. He’s been going for 20, 30 years. He knows the world. He understands the world.”

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Joshua Lott  (JohnMcCain and Rudy Giuliani take in a New York Yankees baseball game)