Amidst all the back and forth over extending term limits to three from two, I haven't seen any discussion of what the proposal means for prior mayors term-limited out of office - including Rudy Giuliani. In order to be constitutionally viable, this proposal needs to apply to everyone who's held office under the City Charter - including Giuliani. Anglo-American jurisprudence does not tolerate one-person-one-time exceptions to applicable law, obviously.

It's widely assumed - and New York republicans, catching a whiff of hope amidst their desolation, certainly hope for it - that Giuliani will run for governor in 2010. If he does, he'll lose, but then what?

He's not going to run for President again after his disastrous campaign, so what does that leave? That's right, the mayoralty of New York. And if Bloomberg gets a third term, there is no way he can be stopped from running, not under a Constitution that insists the laws apply equally to everyone.

[Update]: Oh, that's why nobody's written about it: because Giuliani can already run for a third term, as Dan points out in comments. Never mind.

The RNC just released excerpts of Rudy's prepared remarks to the faithful in Saint Paul.

This is not a personal attack....it's a statement of fact - Barack Obama has never led anything.

Nothing. Nada.

Strong words coming from someone who ran his own Presidential campaign into the ground and reigns supreme as the most hated mayor in New York City history, but there you have it. If you want to know how Barack Obama would run the country, look at his campaign; if you want to know how John McCain would, look at his campaign.

The New York Times features Rudy Giuliani, casually devoting some thoughts to his inglorious defeat in the primaries and then running away from that sissy self-reflection stuff.

But here's a curious statement.

The consuming focus on Florida and the absence of effort in New Hampshire — those are not matters that Mr. Giuliani says he has spent any time exploring, choosing instead to embrace the concept that it was not that he failed but that he was overtaken by a solid opponent who ran a better campaign. [Emph. added]

That's just flat-out false. Giuliani spent a lot of money in New Hampshire and campaigned there on multiple occasions. The problem was simply that the more time and effort he expended there, the less people seemed to like him.

Is this the beginning of the newest round of Giuliani revisionism?

Once again let me remind people that judicial races are at least as important as any other local election. Judges determine the fates of citizens more directly than any other elected position. We need good judges and we need judges we can trust.

This is a follow-up diary to one I wrote earlier about the 1st Civil Court District in Brooklyn. This year a friend of mine (Devin Cohen) is running. His opponent is Roger Adler. Both are good, smart lawyers who are fully qualified to be judge. Adler has been practicing law longer than Devin, but Devin Cohen has more actual civil court experience. So it comes down to a question of temperment and trustworthiness. In my earlier article I addressed both issues. But I have found out more about Roger Adler, who claims to be a Democrat with progressive values, yet I discover that by far his largest contributions are to some of the most conservaitve organizations and politicians in NY State.

Reuters:

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Republican former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, finishing a distant third in Florida's primary where he staked his entire campaign, gave strong hints on Wednesday he might soon end his quest for the White House.

Asked about the reports, Giuliani said only: "We're heading to California, we're heading to California."

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/the_republican_dissident/bronx_county_gop_a_tal...

Usually Lincoln awards are given to people who have achieved some sort of progress of excellence.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01272008/news/regionalnews/rudy_pol_pals_bro...

http://www.joinrudy2008.com/article/pr/1112

Congratulations are in order for Marcus Cederqvist from Manhattan GOP, who was just appointed the executive director of the New York City Board of Elections by a landslide vote today. In a second vote today for the position of general counsel for the Republican commissioners. Jay Savino lost the vote by 6-4. 3 out of the 5 NYC GOP political clubs that he is in charge of as vice chairman of the NYS Republican committee voted against him not getting this position. Plus Jay Savino is not a resident of the Bronx, he is a resident of Rockland County, and he has to be a resident of NYC to be an employee to work at the Board of Elections. What excuse did Jay Savino use this time??> He stated that he is separated from his wife. As many of you remember when he ran in the 2006 34th state senate campaign, he was saying that he was a lifelong resident of the 34th state senate district, but he was not, so the excuse he used then was that his wife had pregnancy problems so that is why he had to move his wife to her mothers house in Rockland County. Now Mr.

YOUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS HARD AT WORK

Dawn Sandow, who is the deputy chief clerk at the Bronx Board of Elections needs to explain why she has to lie to the taxpayers of New York City who pay her $ 83,500.00 a year salary. Ms. Sandow says that she lives in the Bronx, but she actually lives in Rockland County and when you work for the city of New York you are bound by residency requirements that you must live in the confines of New York City. Last year a newspaper article was published by Dave Seifman from the New York Post about this Bronx County GOP political hacker. And at the time this news article was published on September 3, 2006, Ms. Sandow was quoted as saying that she lives in the Bronx with her mother. Well it turns out that her mother Mae Sandow died many months earlier on April 10, 2006 at a senior citizen nursing home in the Bronx. Now please keep in mind that Dawn Sandow did not live in the nursing home with her mother. And Dawn Sandow has her voter registration at 1625 Radcliff Avenue in the Bronx, while the mother had her voter registration at another address and you always vote from where you live:

SANDOW, MAE, V

MEDIA/PRESS RELEASE!

New York Delegate for Presidential Republican Candidate Rudy Giuliani to be removed.

From Congressional District 7, Delegate Joseph J. Savino (Bronx County GOP Leader) is to be removed from the list of Rudolph Giuliani's delegates for New York State. Joseph J. Savino is a non resident of the 7th Congressional District which covers parts of the counties of the Bronx and Queens, New York. Mr. Savino's actual residence is in Rockland County, New York. Verifications have been made with the Rockland County County Clerk's office.

JOSEPH J. SAVINO
2 KOHLER CT.
CONGERS, NEW YORK 10920

Indexing Search - Indexed Instrument Display
Displayed on: Saturday, January 05, 2008 9:59:47 AM

LAND RECORDS Valid From 01/02/1930 Thru 12/11/2007

File Date: 12/12/2007
Index Type: ROCKLAND COUNTY, N.Y. LAND RECORDS
Book: Page: Orig Book: Orig Page:
Instr Number: 2007-00063671 Orig Instr #:
Kind: DEED Scan Pages: 5 Amount: $484,900.00
Description: CLA L33 M3249 LISA ESTATES

GRANTOR - Record(s) 2
FELLERMAN, DORIS -ESTATE OF
LAUER, REBECCA -EXX
GRANTEE - Record(s) 2
SAVINO, JOSEPH J
SAVINO, CARRI A (WIFE)

JOSEPH J. SAVINO
2 KOHLER CT.

Sometimes it seems the vast majority of Republicans are corrupt. From run of the mill political scandals right down to pedophilia, the vast majority of political scandals are Republican scandals. The layers of hypocricy and corruption always amaze me.