Giuliani Readies His Campaign; Democrats Ignite
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Mayor Giuliani’s first formal steps toward a presidential candidacy in 2008 will be met with a furious campaign by the Democrats, who will try to paint him as a candidate too liberal for the Republican Party even while they are making the case elsewhere that the country is far to the left of the Republicans.
Mr. Giuliani, who has been expected to make a presidential run since he led New York City through its darkest days following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, filed Friday to form an exploratory group charged with “testing the waters.” The filing, disclosed yesterday, came at nearly the same time Senator McCain announced that he would be setting up an exploratory committee to seek the Republican nomination.
Mr. Giuliani decided to explore running for president after traveling around America to meet voters while campaigning for GOP candidates, one of his advisers, Anthony Carbonetti, said in a statement. “They have been encouraging him to run for president, and this filing affords him the opportunity to raise money and put together an organization to assist him in making his decision,” Mr. Carbonetti said.
Yesterday was also the day for other possible White House aspirants from New York to tease out yet more hints about their national political ambitions. Senator Clinton was quizzed about her political future at a monthly Association for a Better New York breakfast.
Mrs. Clinton seemed to relish the question, and began her answer with, “Well …”— the pregnant pause she’s often nursed when asked about the presidency. “I am going to think about the future,” Mrs. Clinton said. “I have not made any decisions. I have no plans.”
While using many vague terms, such as “plans,” “thoughts,” “opportunities,” “possibilities.,” “the future,” and “it,” she avoided two concrete terms: “presidency” and “the White House.”
Before she was asked about the presidency, the association’s chairman, William Rudin, told a story about an ancestor of Mrs. Clinton, Hugh Rodham, immigrating to Lower Manhattan in the 1880s. Later, Mrs. Clinton spoke of Rodham toiling six days a week, eventually becoming a foreman and dressing every day in suspenders and wearing a prized gold watch.
Mr. Rudin’s story couldn’t have been more politically poignant if Mrs. Clinton own campaign strategists wrote it. It was like Mrs. Clinton was describing a place called Hope — the storybook narrative of her husband’s hometown in Arkansas that helped catapult him into national prominence.
The story of Rodham is the American dream, and Mrs. Clinton said she was touched by the “flood of memories” Mr. Rudin evoked. She said Rodham’s “wonderful, gentle soul” went right to her heart.
With the midterm elections now behind her, Mrs. Clinton said she finally has time to think through the presidential thoughts in her head.
“I’m open to thoughts,” she said, before trailing off to audience laughter, “so anybody who has any. …”
As if the news about Mr. Giuliani and Mrs. Clinton weren’t enough, Governor Pataki said yesterday at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Mets stadium in Queens that “now’s the time to look the future,” an oblique reference to his White House prospects, adding that he wants to be “part of the national dialogue.”
“Well, January 1st, as I’ve said to Fred Wilpon,” Mr. Pataki said, referring to the Mets owner, “I am a free agent.”
The big news, however, was Mr. Giuliani’s move to formalize his pre-candidacy. The Democratic National Committee promptly issued a statement that said: “It’s unclear whether or not Rudy Giuliani will be able to just ‘explain away’ the fact that he’s consistently taken positions that are completely opposite to the conservative Republican base on issues they hold near and dear.” The statement was attributed to the DNC’s communications director, Karen Finney. “Throughout his career Giuliani has tried to paint himself as a moderate, but now that he’s vying for his party’s nomination will he undergo an extreme makeover in an attempt to cozy up to the far-right?” she was quoted as saying in the DNC’s statement.
It quoted U.S. News and World Report as saying that Mr. Giuliani was a registered Democrat for much of his life, having registered as such and even serving as a party committeeman on Long Island when he was 21. It also cites CNN reports that quote him as saying, “I’m pro-choice” and voicing support over the years for gay rights.