Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Rudy Giuliani Stretches It Out | Yesterday the Daily News seemed to suggest that a run for Senate by Rudy Giuliani was pretty much inevitable. Today? Not so much. The former mayor is now just "mulling" such a bid, the paper reports before going on to quote several of his aides who say the ex-mayor "is not particularly tempted by any public office." More

Rudy Giuliani has decided not to run for governor next year, reports the Times: 

It was not clear what prompted the decision, but the prospect of potentially facing Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who is quietly planning his own run for governor on the Democratic ticket, may not have appealed to Mr. Giuliani, who suffered a bruising defeat in the 2008 Republican presidential primary. While many political analysts believe Mr. Giuliani would have comfortably beaten Gov. David A. Paterson, he would likely have faced an uphill battle against Mr. Cuomo, one of the most popular politicians in the state. 

So what will he do instead? Continue to collect a zillion dollars per speech, so he can keep up with Judy Giuliani's Louis Vuitton addiction, that's what. [NYT]

You knew that Mike Bloomberg went to extraordinary lengths to get himself elected to a third term, spending close to $100 million to blanket the local airwaves with commercials and stick flyers in the mailbox of every New Yorker. It turns out his campaigning extended far, far beyond New York as well: More

Anthony Weiner is finally admitting that he'd probably be New York City's mayor-elect right now if he hadn't made the decision last spring to remain on the sidelines. Not that he has any regrets, of course. Had he elected to run, he would have totally neglected his responsibilities in Washington and then he wouldn't have been able to play such a central role in passing health care legislation. Obviously! Weiner also says that if he'd jumped into the race, Mayor Bloomberg would have been forced to spend $150 million on his campaign (instead of the $90 million he spent going up against Bill Thompson), since Bloomberg's advisers "were afraid" of him. So Weiner saved the mayor $60 million? Sounds like someone deserves a gift, Mr. Mayor. [NYT]

Paterson's 'Hail Mary' | And here we were thinking that the end of the 2009 election cycle meant we wouldn't have to see any annoying campaign commercials until at least the fall of 2010. New York's gubernatorial elections are a full year away, but Gov. David Paterson is "making the highly unusual move" of airing two new commercials beginning tomorrow in the hopes of boosting his low approval numbers. We can't see how the two spots are going to do much to salvage his political fortunes. But you can have a look at the two commercials here and decide for yourself. [NYDN]

Corzine's Next Move | Jon Corzine was unseated as New Jersey's governor yesterday. Meanwhile, Bank of America is desperately seeking a new CEO and just yesterday announced it would be fine with having its next chief based in the New York area, instead of at BofA HQ in Charlotte. Is it possible that Jon Corzine could decide to return to his Wall Street roots and take over the troubled bank? Stranger things have happened, clearly. [Dealbreaker]

That sure was close, wasn't it? Going into the election, pollsters and pundits were predicting a double-digit win for Michael Bloomberg. But for all the money he spent ($157.27 per vote, compared to Thompson's $13.12), flashy endorsements he lined up, political rivals he forced into submission—and even with an opponent like Thompson who never quite got his act together—Bloomberg only managed to win by five percentage points. Yesterday's results will have implications for years to come, of course. We've rounded up a few of the early winners and losers below.More

Ivanka Remembers Mike, Forgets Jared | The good news for Ivanka Trump: She did remember to go out and vote today and displayed a surprising amount of courage and independence by breaking with her father and throwing her support behind underdog Bill Thompson. (Just kidding!) The bad news: She forgot to wear her giant wedding ring when she appeared on The View this morning. Elisabeth Hasselbeck wasn't happy about it. But really, how do you expect someone to fully concentrate when democracy is in action? Cut the lady some slack! [Twitter, People]

All Is Quiet at the Polls | Another reason not to vote today courtesy of NY1's John Schiumo: You run the risk of waking up a poll worker enjoying a relaxing nap. You wouldn't want to do that, would you? [Twitter]

Election Day has arrived, which means if you live in New York City, you have until 9pm to go to the polls to cast your vote for the next mayor. Is it even worth trekking to your local polling station given Mike Bloomberg locked in a third term ages ago? Probably not, but you'll be doing your democratic duty and for that you can be proud. (If you skip it and you're a Bill Thompson supporter, take comfort in the fact that a low turnout is something Thompson is hoping for.) If you live in New Jersey, it's a very different story. Gov. Corzine and Chris Christie are neck in neck, every vote will count, and a winner may not emerge until late into the night. So decide between the lady-loving bald dude or the thieving fat man and get to it. [Photo: Flickr]

Mike and Bill Meet One Last Time | If you skipped the debate between Mike Bloomberg and Bill Thompson, you probably made the right choice. For better or worse, nothing that happened last night is going to change what happens next week. And if you just wanted to watch two politicians verbally pummel each other for an hour, you could turn on a cable news channel at any time of the day or night. Then again you did miss opportunity to see the bilingual mayor casually break into Spanish for no apparent reason! More

Bill Thompson's Last Stand | Bill Thompson doesn't stand much of a chance at winning next week's mayoral election. But the two will face off once again this evening for their second and final debate. (Thompson will have to deliver "the political equivalent of an Oscar-performance" if he has any hope of turning things around, says Michael Barbaro of the Times.) Don't think the mayor is coasting on his lead, or on the $85 million he's spent on his campaign thus far. He's taking tonight's debate seriously: "Mr. Bloomberg seems to be taking no chances on Tuesday: there are no events other than the debate on his schedule, allowing him to spend the day preparing for the confrontation." Either that or he's figured out that it's an excellent excuse to take the day off and chill out at home, which it is. [NYT]

Bloomberg Blowout? | With the elections eight days away, Mayor Bloomberg has widened his lead. He's now ahead by 18 percentage points, according to a new Quinnipiac poll, which is up from 16 points last week. [NYT]

Bill Thompson Isn't the Anal-Retentive Sort | According to today's Times, mayoral candidate Bill Thompson is "starved for publicity." We have a feeling that the article in which that tidbit appears wasn't the sort of publicity he had in mind, unfortunately:More

Bill Thompson now trails Mayor Bloomberg by 16 percentage points in the polls, which is a bit of a setback for Thompson since he'd narrowed the lead to 9 percentage points back in September. But shouldn't Bloomberg's lead be bigger right now, especially given how much cash he's spent on his wildly overpriced campaign? More