Why Isn't Giuliani Running For Office?

It's really all about the money. He's making tons of it as a "motivational speaker" (i.e., a huckster selling fear, smear and chicken grease) and as the figurehead of a consulting firm rolling in dough. Running for the Senate or for governor would hamper his ability to keep raking in the big bucks. The fact that he's practically handing the seat to Kirsten Gillibrand doesn't really figure into his calculations.

Barring some major turn of events, the decision marks the end of an electoral future for the now 65-year-old ex-mayor, whose career in many ways helped to define New York over the last quarter century.

He leaves a legacy full of bright upsides and corresponding downsides.

As mayor, he drove down crime to historic lows, but often at the expense of race relations, and frequently with a style regarded by many as insular and bullyish.

He preached personal responsibility, then informed his wife -- via press conference -- that he was divorcing her.

"I have always said that he was a good mayor -- just a terrible person," said former Mayor Ed Koch. "And by terrible person, I mean he didn't respect anyone else's opinion. But he delivered essential services."

Even the "he drove down crime to historic lows" truism is just about certain kinds of crime, and certainly not the kinds of systemic white-collar criminality and organized-crime connections upon which Giuliani built his political empire. Even now, his top lieutenant, Bernie Kerik, who has finally pled guilty to bribery charges, is facing prison time. Giuliani's decision to not run spares him the ugliness of having the whole Kerik affair dredged up on the front pages of every newspaper in the state, if not the country-- and that doesn't even broach the case of another of Giuliani's closest associates, Monsignor Alan Placa, a priest who specialized in seducing young alter boys and raping them. (He's currently a Giuliani employee.) And what a shame; his ads were all ready to be launched on TV: