Posted on 06/20/2007 7:24:54 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
NEW YORK (AP) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg bumped into a close ally of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday and heard a surprising plea: Go ahead and get into the 2008 presidential race.
Howard Koeppel, who let Giuliani live at his apartment when the Republican mayor's marriage to Donna Hanover broke up in 2001, saw Bloomberg by chance and ran up to whisper in his ear about the race starring two New Yorkers, Giuliani and Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Bloomberg this week declared he is an independent and no longer a Republican, further electrifying the speculation that he will become the third New Yorker to make a run for the White House next year.
``I said, 'If you run, I would like that,''' Koeppel told reporters when asked about his chat with Bloomberg. ``'You'd take votes away from Hillary. You'd help the Republicans, and you'd be good for Rudy.'''
But, Koeppel added: ``He said, 'Don't worry about it, I'm not running.'''
The chance encounter? Koeppel happened to be attending a fundraiser for Giuliani at the midtown Manhattan hotel where Bloomberg had an evening speech before a labor group.
Koeppel said he and Bloomberg have been friendly since the billionaire first ran for City Hall in 2001, when Giuliani introduced them and they sat together at baseball games.
The idea of a possible Bloomberg-Giuliani faceoff in the presidential campaign has raised eyebrows in New York's political circles because of the potential conflicts it could bring.
And it is widely believed that Bloomberg would not have been elected to office without the endorsement of Giuliani in 2001. The election was shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, when Giuliani was wildly popular and Bloomberg was an unknown, untested businessman.
Asked earlier Wednesday about a possible Bloomberg run while campaigning in Iowa, Giuliani said: ``He says he's not running, so I've got to take him at his word. If he does run, he has every right to do it.''
A log cabin republican, heh?
Is Howard Koeppel the gay car dealer Rudy was living with?
Oh barf. Now they’re just making stuff up.
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