April 14, 2000
PUBLIC INTERESTS / By GAIL COLLINS
Rudy's Identity Crisis
Our topic for today is "Rudy Giuliani and the Senate: A Cry for Help."
People, this is a man fraught with inner turmoil. He loves being mayor of New York City -- he'd try to do it forever if it weren't for term limits. Being president would be nice too, of course. Commander of NATO might be O.K., if they were willing to overlook that draft exemption.
But the Senate is the job that's open, and although Mr. Giuliani has raised pots and pots of money for his campaign, he appears about as interested in being a legislator as he is in becoming a pastry chef.
One of the ways you can tell whether a New York City politician is really committed to running for higher office is by his or her willingness to campaign upstate. Those of us who live in the metropolitan area and are particularly shallow tend to regard upstate as a combination of half-empty strip malls and attractive but hard-to-reach scenery.
Hillary Clinton, who has not lived here long enough to absorb local prejudices, really likes it up there. "Last week I was in Binghamton and Rochester and Corning and Albany, and I'm back in Albany today. I'll be back in Buffalo tomorrow," she said brightly this week. (For those of you who read the Harry Potter books, Mrs. Clinton as a candidate is Hermione Granger. She wants to sign up for all the courses, and if there's a scheduling conflict, she'll replicate.)
There's no actual proof Mr. Giuliani is a downstate snob who hates driving three hours to have dinner at a place where the steak comes wrapped in cheese. But it is an absolute fact that his associates have found it almost impossible to drag him up north.
Last week the mayor's staff announced he would travel to Rochester on Wednesday to have lunch with Republican women. But on Tuesday Mr. Giuliani canceled the trip, saying he wanted to go to the Yankees' home opening game instead.
Never called his upstate hosts, never apologized. The county's Republican chairman had to learn about the cancellation from reporters. His wife, who organized the event, had to track down 400 guests and tell them not to come.
"Opening Day is something of great significance to me," the mayor said. ". . . you can raise money any time."
Now people, this is clearly the sound of a conflicted soul. Or an incredible jerk.
"He's setting himself up to announce that the city needs him so desperately he's going to have to forgo the race," predicted former Mayor Ed Koch. Mr. Koch once knocked himself out of a race for governor by telling Playboy that if you live upstate you have to "drive 20 miles to buy a gingham dress or a Sears, Roebuck suit." He also made uncomplimentary, but accurate, comments about the quality of the restaurants.
"Unconsciously, maybe I didn't want to be governor," he said. "Anyway, it worked out for the best. I'd have been so unhappy in Albany, I'd have come home every night."
Upstate New York is a perpetual economic basket case, the sort of place where politicians keep hoping a gambling casino might turn things around. Even the areas that are doing well have insecurity complexes. (The Syracuse Chamber of Commerce calls its annual retreat an "advance" to combat negative thinking.)
Mrs. Clinton, as you might expect, has a four-part strategy for reviving the economy, including subsections on entrepreneurial incubators and the alternative-fuels tax credit. As a test, I challenged her to say something optimistic about Utica, and she went on for some time about demolition incentives to level parts of the downtown, followed by a paean to residents' "gritty persistence to keep trying."
Her opponent is not into position papers.
"The mayor has a long record of job creation," said a campaign spokesman when asked for the Giuliani plan for economic development upstate. "The same kinds of things he did for New York City he could do for the state."
But being a senator is not like being mayor, and upstate is most definitely not like New York City. Its problems can't be solved by making people behave. No wonder the mayor doesn't want to go there.
He can probably adapt, but I think we're talking long-term therapy.
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
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