Should former mayor Rudy Giuliani run for governor on the Republican ticket? The Rev. Al Sharpton double-dog dares him.
Sharpton, who has thrown his support behind Democrat Gov. David Paterson, dared his longtime nemesis to step up to the plate on Saturday during a rally for Paterson, according to the Daily News. The governor announced Friday he would seek re-election.
"Come on and run, Rudy. We want you to run," Sharpton challenged the former mayor and presidential candidate at his Harlem headquarters.
"Run, Rudy, run!" the crowd chanted in return, according to the Daily News.
Labor leaders and respected black politicians gathered in Harlem to cheer the governor on as he begins his re-election campaign amid record-low approval ratings, the Daily News reported.
"We have cleaned up the economic problems that existed in this state," Paterson said, citing the $25 billion that got cut from the state budget on his watch. "Who is out there that can cut the budget that effectively and remember those that have to be protected the most?"
Paterson dared one such person to come forward. “I will see them in 2010," he said.
Many have speculated that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would challenge Paterson in the Democratic primary -- a rumor Sharpton flat-out rejected. A Siena College poll released Monday showed Cuomo taking the vote by more than 50 percent – 64 percent to 11 percent.
"That race is not going to happen. This is not about David and Andrew. This is about David and Rudy Giuliani," Sharpton said at the rally, according to the Daily News.
But the poll indicated Paterson wouldn’t fare much better against the former Republican mayor. The numbers showed the governor losing to Giuliani 29 percent to 56 percent..
Paterson's poll numbers have crashed in recent months, ignited by the debacle that surrounded Caroline Kennedy's bid for Hillary Clinton's vacant senate seat and fueled by the tough economy. The governor's introduction of legislation to legalize same-sex marriage was viewed by critics as a political ploy to conjure images of the man as a forward-thinking leader amid swirling questions about his competence and political priorities. The most recent poll, which came out less than a week after Paterson introduced the controversial bill, showed no bump in popularity.
The latest Siena poll finds the governor’s popularity among New York voters continuing to fall, with 63 percent viewing him unfavorably. Less than half of black voters in New York approve of how Paterson is doing his job, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. Last summer, two thirds of black voters said he was handling his job well.
