Ex-NYSE Chief Says He'd Battle Spitzer for Mayor

Former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso sounds like he's relishing the possibility of another fight with former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Grasso said Thursday night that he would run for mayor of New York City in 2013 under two conditions: that Spitzer would also be running and police Commissioner Ray Kelly wouldn't.

He said Kelly "really should be the mayor," but otherwise, "if my former adversary does run as an independent in 2013, I will run for mayor of the city of New York."

In 2004, as state attorney general, Spitzer tried unsuccessfully to block much of Grasso's $187.5 million compensation package from the stock exchange.

Spitzer was later elected governor but resigned after he was named as a client of a prostitution ring; he is now a CNN host.

Grasso, speaking at Wagner College on Staten Island, said Spitzer is entitled to run because "America is the country of second chances."

"It is not for me or anyone else but rather the people who walk into that voting booth to decide whether he should get a second chance," Grasso said.

He said he would run on a "fiscal discipline" platform.

Grasso also noted that he has the same initials as former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and said, "All those monogrammed towels at Gracie Mansion with the initials RG can be recycled."