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Al D'Amato Likes Fred Thompson-Giuliani Ticket
Rudy Giuliani's past problems with some influential New York Republicans may be coming back to haunt him 13 years after he crossed party lines to endorse Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo's bid for a fourth term. "America deserves a leader who has the courage to lead our country through challenging times," said New York's Alfonse D'Amato in a statement announcing his endorsement of his fellow former senator, Fred Thompson of Tennessee, for president. The D'Amato endorsement, unveiled Tuesday night during an appearance on the NY1 all-news New York City cable station, came as polls showed Thompson surging nationally in the race for the GOP presidential nomination even though he has yet to formally enter the race. For months, those polls have shown Giuliani leading Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Thompson, appealing to GOP conservatives unhappy with the others, is now challenging McCain for second spot.
Story Continues Below "In the Republican Party, people are not very happy with the candidates. It doesn't mean they're not good people - John McCain is a great war hero; Rudy Giuliani is the hero of 9/11 - but I am going to be urging Fred Thompson, Senator Fred Thompson, to get into the race ... and I intend to support him," D'Amato told NY1. For those familiar with New York politics, D'Amato's decision to turn against the former New York City mayor didn't come as much of a shock. In 1994, D'Amato was the most powerful figure in the state GOP and had put his considerable political muscle behind the gubernatorial candidacy of then-state Sen. George Pataki. Top D'Amato aides were raising money and planning strategy for the anti-Cuomo campaign. Then, Giuliani endorsed Cuomo. "When I've spoken to his opponent, I felt like I was speaking to a middleman who had to go back and get someone else to make decisions for him," the mayor said at the time in a clear slap at D'Amato. Should Pataki win, Giuliani said, "ethics would be trashed." While Giuliani has since mended fences with many New York Republicans - his presidential candidacy has been endorsed by state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and state GOP Chairman Joseph Mondello - his relations with some of the state's other top Republicans, including D'Amato, have remained cool. In fact, even while saying his backing of Thompson "is not a personal repudiation of Rudy," D'Amato managed to make it clear Giuliani shouldn't set his sights too high. Perhaps he could be a vice president, the former senator suggested. "He might make a great addition to the ticket" headed by Thompson, D'Amato told The Associated Press.
Pataki, who didn't seek a fourth term last year as he considered a possible presidential run of his own that never took wing, has yet to make an endorsement, but there has been speculation in New York political circles that he could also come out for Thompson. Meanwhile, veteran Republican media strategist Nelson Warfield, who has strong ties to New York billionaire Ronald Lauder and to New York Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long, has joined the Thompson team. Warfield helped run Bob Dole's unsuccessful 1996 presidential campaign. Lauder, a son of cosmetics magnate Estee Lauder, lost the 1989 GOP mayoral primary to Giuliani. While Giuliani went on to lose the general election that year, he won the mayor's job in 1993, the same year voters in the city approved a Lauder-bankrolled term-limits law that drove Giuliani out of office at the end of 2001. Long said he plans to meet with Thompson at some point, although the party chairman also said it was too early to jump on anyone's presidential bandwagon. "Is there interest among our leaders? Yes," Long said. "But there's interest among our leaders with a lot of the candidates. A lot of them like McCain." Long, whose pre-9/11 relations with Giuliani were downright unfriendly, said he recently had "a good meeting" with the former mayor. Long also said that on July 18 he has former House Speaker Newt Gingrich coming into New York City to headline a Conservative Party dinner. Gingrich has said he might enter the race for the GOP nomination. While the developments could signal future trouble for Giuliani in his home state, recent polls of New York Republican voters have shown the former mayor with big leads over his GOP rivals.
© 2007 Associated Press.
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
2008 Presidential Race
Inside Cover Stories
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