Anthony Carbonetti

Rudy Giuliani is not the first person many conservatives would have picked to deliver the keynote address at the Republican convention later this month, but given the uphill battle many of them see John McCain facing in November, it appears to be a choice they can live with.

"Maybe in other years I'd be more picky about it," said Gary Bauer, an evangelical leader who is an informal adviser to the McCain campaign. Citing Republican fatigue and a severely sluggish economy, Bauer said, "People understand that this is a tough year and that Rudy Giuliani is admired nationally for both his success as New York mayor but also his performance after 9/11.  read more »

The AP reports that Rudy Giuliani will give the keynote at the Republican National Convention next month. In addition to the fact that Giuliani has been a strong supporter of McCain since his own primary campaign fizzled, McCain is close with top Giuliani aide Tony Carbonetti, who has been accompanying the presumed nominee on many of his campaign stops.

An adviser to Tom Golisano--who said Golisano is willing to spend at least $5 million on State Senate races this year--is taking the news that Rudy Giuliani is launching a P.A.C. in stride. (The former mayor's fund-raising committee will contribute mainly to State Senate Republicans, who would like to maintain their very narrow majority.)

“Clearly it’s his right to do what he believes and I think this will be quite a critical election,” Golisano adviser Steve Pigeon told me. “I think there will be some candidates we support in common and others we don’t.  But he [Giuliani] clearly has a right to do it.  read more »

Here's video from Rudy Giuliani's brief appearance at the Kings County Republican Committee’s annual fund-raiser last night, where he paid tribute to his former community assistance commissioner, Rosemarie O’Keefe.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else tonight,” Giuliani told the audience, which gave him a warm, though not particularly impassioned, welcome. “We met in 1989 and she worked very, very hard to get me elected in 1989, [and] we didn’t succeed, but we became very good friends,” he said.

Giuliani spoke for about eight minutes, praising O’Keefe’s work with families of 9/11 victims and her efforts to build the Republican Party. He made no mention of the presidential race, nor of his plans for the future.  read more »

Rudy Giuliani and his top aide, Anthony Carbonetti met with the New York State Republican Chairman Joe Mondello last week for a little chat about state politics. The meeting took place at the office of Giuliani Partners, at the invitation of Giuliani, according to Carbonetti.

I asked him if the subject of Giuliani for governor came up, since it's been the subject of some recent speculation.  

"Of course it did," Carbonetti confirmed during a telephone interview yesterday. "But Rudy was like, 'Lets worry about getting through this cycle.'"

Mr. Carbonetti continued: "Joe said, 'I'm with you if you want to run.' You know, the usual stuff.  read more »