Andrew Cuomo has secretly notified Rudy Giuliani that he will run for governor next year, The Post has learned.
The confidential message, conveyed through intermediaries, was delivered to Giuliani recently and is expected to play a central role in the former mayor’s impending decision on whether to run as the Republican candidate for governor in 2010, sources with knowledge of the situation said.
The message confirms the widespread belief that state Attorney General Cuomo intends to challenge unelected Gov. Paterson in a Democratic primary if Paterson decides to run.
It was sent as a courtesy — Giuliani says he’s “friends” with Cuomo — and as a warning that the former presidential candidate would face a brutal and, according to a dozen recent polls, losing battle against the highly popular attorney general.
Insiders said Cuomo, while convinced he would win, wants to avoid a costly and exhausting campaign against Giuliani, who polls show is popular in the suburbs and upstate but not in New York City.
A prominent Democrat with knowledge of the message said he was certain Giuliani would decide not to run.
“Rudy doesn’t want to run against Andrew, and he has been told Andrew is running,” said the Democrat, an important figure in party circles who is not aligned with Cuomo.
“It is certain that Andrew Cuomo is running, and it is certain that he will be the Democratic nominee for governor, he will be our nominee,” added the source, whose views carry important weight in the Democratic Party.
Public-opinion polls have repeatedly shown Cuomo crushing Paterson, who has record-low approval ratings, in a Democratic primary and Giuliani crushing Paterson in a general election.
Sources familiar with Cuomo’s strategy say he’s in no hurry to announce his candidacy for governor, preferring to remain focused on the official work that has made him the most popular political figure in the state. Furthermore, they say he feels no need to rush an announcement given what one called “the decisive support” he got last month, when President Obama praised Cuomo and signaled he wanted Paterson out of the race.
Insiders predict Cuomo will wait until after the Jan. 15 campaign-contribution filing period to make his announcement, expecting to be so far ahead of Paterson in fund raising that the governor may be forced to drop out of the race.
Paterson has insisted that he will seek election on his own next year no matter what Cuomo does.
But he has received virtually no support from Democratic activists in the wake of Obama’s action, which stunned state Democrats and provided Cuomo with enormous cover from the charge made by some Paterson backers that he was unfairly targeting the state’s first black governor.