He’s slumping in the polls — but Mayor Giuliani can forget about getting any help from his party’s presidential candidate in his Senate race against First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Texas Gov. George W. Bush yesterday dashed Giuliani’s hopes that he’d endorse him in a TV ad.
“I don’t plan on cutting any ads except for one person — myself,” Bush said in Los Angeles.
“I’ve got my hands full,” Bush explained. “And the best thing I can do is run a campaign that helps turn out the vote.”
Bush’s comments came on another day of tough news for Giuliani’s campaign — a New York Times poll showing Clinton ahead 49 percent to 41 percent.
Political pros don’t expect Bush to win in New York — he isn’t doing well in state polls — and they doubt he would help Giuliani win over more moderate voters.
But Bush’s comments seemed like a payback for Giuliani’s relationship with Arizona Sen. John McCain, who challenged the Texan for the Republican presidential nomination — and who appears in a new Giuliani campaign ad.
Though Giuliani had expressed hope for similar help from Bush, he said yesterday he wasn’t hurt by Bush’s comments.
“It doesn’t concern me at all,” Giuliani said. “I’m sure that we’re both going to help each other quite a bit.”
The mayor irked some in the state’s Republican establishment — including Gov. Pataki — by his tepid support for Bush in the March 7 primary. Some Bush backers have complained Giuliani wouldn’t bash his Arizona pal.
But Giuliani plays down the idea that he has a troubled relationship with the certain Republican nominee.
“George Bush is a good friend,” he said. “He’s going to be a great president. We’ll work very, very closely together.”
Both Giuliani and Clinton spent part of yesterday campaigning upstate.
Giuliani spoke to 1,000 people last night at the annual Broome County Republican dinner in Johnson City, near Binghamton.
Clinton began her day shaking hands with commuters at Grand Central Terminal before flying upstate to campaign in Rochester, Binghamton and Greene.
She was nonplussed when asked about her rising poll numbers.
“I don’t pay much attention to what’s up and what’s down seven months before an election,” she said.