Quin, first, I do think the fact that he was battling cancer in
2000 at least should be taken into account, becuase even if he were
gung ho about running from the start, it would have forced him to
drop out. But even if you were to put that aside, there are a lot
of reasons why this time is different. So far, Giuliani has been
campaigning tirelessly for the nomination, and has displayed none
of the tentativeness that categorized his abandoned U.S. Senate
run. Also, in the case of the Senate, I don't think it was a
position that he really wanted as much as he wants to be president.
Giuliani is a leader who likes to run things and serve in an
executive capacity, part of it is because that's what excites him
and that's what he's good at, and part of it is that he has a big
ego. Being a legislator, where you sit around in meetings and
nothing gets done, simply isn't a good fit for him. I think he
decided to run for the Senate because he was a term-limited mayor
and that position was open, and if anything, he relished the
prospect of a high-profile race against Hillary, rather than feared
it. But holding the top executive job in the world is something
that is much more appealing to him. Also, something else changed
since then--Sept. 11. I wrote about the implications of his
personal connection to that event last
week, and I think given that he knows as well as or better than
anybody what the stakes are in this election, there's simply no way
he'll let Clinton off easy. In this case, the past is not, in fact,
prologue.