Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Botax! | One way the White House and Senate Democrats plan to pay to overhaul the health care system? By imposing a five percent tax on cosmetic procedures like breast implants, face lifts, tummy tucks, and Botox. The provision, which is projected to raise $6 billion over the next 10 years, has plastic surgeons up in arms, not surprisingly. But considering a slightly disproportionate number of cosmetic surgery consumers are Republicans, it may be a clever political move for Democrats. Even if it wreaks havoc on Nancy Pelosi's personal budget in the process. [AP]

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

Is Giuliani Planning a Senate Run? | It seems the New York Times only had half the story when it reported earlier that Rudy Giuliani had abandoned plans to run for governor. "A source familiar with Giuliani's thinking" now tells the Daily News that he plans to run for Senate instead and challenge Kirsten Gillibrand in 2010 to fill out the remaining two years of Hillary Clinton's term. "If elected, the source said, he could use that as a stepping stone to run for President in 2012—rather than run for re-election to the Senate." Be afraid. Be very afraid. [NYDN]

Murdoch's Mea Culpa | Rupert Murdoch called Gov. David Paterson earlier today to apologize for his bizarre comments yesterday in which he suggested the governor was clueless about the political goings-on in New York because he was blind. And Paterson accepted. "Apparently, Paterson was willing to chalk Murdoch's bizarre comments up to a 'random misstatement.'" [NYDN]

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]

Queens Will Have to Wait Its Turn | When political insiders suggested yesterday that the mayor pay more attention to places outside of Manhattan's toniest precincts, they probably didn't have Russia or China in mind. But both those countries are expected to benefit from Mike Bloomberg's latest charitable donation, a $125 million gift designed to improve road conditions in 10 developing countries around the world. But he'll get to this next. Don't you worry. [WSJ]

Joe Biden Needs a Bicycle | If Joe Biden ever offers you a ride in his limo, politely decline and find another way to get where you're going. The vice president's motorcade was involved in a traffic accident late yesterday, his third in under a week. Biden was heading over to The Daily Show when one of the advance police cars in his motorcade crashed into a livery cab on 49th Street. Unlike his accident on Nov. 11, though, no one died this time around. While the unmarked cop car was a little worse for the wear, none of the cars' occupants were seriously injured. And the drama didn't prevent Biden from doing a smash-up job when he sat down with Jon Stewart either, so that's nice. [WCBS, NYDN]

Considering Mayor Bloomberg won a third term in office by such a slim margin, perhaps it's time for New York's dictator-in-chief to show off a less arrogant, more humble side? That's what some people are suggesting, such as Lauren Solomon, the president emeritus of the Association of Image Consultants International:More

Dobbs Keeps the Door Open | Lou Dobbs appeared on his pal Bill O'Reilly's show last night in his first interview since leaving CNN $8 million richer last week. And O'Reilly asked him the question that's been on many minds in recent days: Is Dobbs thinking about running for a U.S. Senate seat? More

Paterson Falls Further | So much for those TV commercials that Gov. David Paterson was hoping would boost his popularity (and which he spent half a million dollars on): According to a new poll, Paterson now trails Andrew Cuomo by a staggering 59 points in a potential primary next year. [NYP]

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

Plategate, Day 2 | A day after Gov. Paterson announced that New York would introduce new license plates—and charge every motorist $25 for the privilege of switching over to the "Empire Gold" plates—and he's already backing away from the plan. Following a storm of protest, Paterson now says he's prepared to abandon the fee. As long as someone can figure out how to make up for the $129 million gap in the state's budget. The governor says he doesn't know how to do it. Do you? Call 518-474-8390 and ask for Dave. [NYP]

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]