Eleven…

Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has decided not to run for governor of New York next year after months of mulling a candidacy, according to people who have been told of the decision.

Nine eleven nine eleven?

It was not clear what prompted the decision, but the prospect of potentially facing Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who is quietly planning his own run for governor on the Democratic ticket, may not have appealed to Mr. Giuliani, who suffered a bruising defeat in the 2008 Republican presidential primary. While many political analysts believe Mr. Giuliani would have comfortably beaten Gov. David A. Paterson, he would likely have faced an uphill battle against Mr. Cuomo, one of the most popular politicians in the state.

Nine eleven nine eleven nine eleven nine eleven. Nine eleven nine eleven nine: eleven nine eleven; nine eleven nine eleven; nine eleven nine; eleven nine.

Eleven nine eleven.

Update: Nine eleven nine eleven nine eleven. Nine eleven?!?!

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has decided not to run for governor next year – but will run for U.S. Senate instead, sources told the Daily News.

If elected, the source said, he could use that as a stepping stone to run for President in 2012 — rather than run for re-election to the Senate.

Nine eleven nine eleven nine eleven nine eleven.

I was simply blown away by Going Rogue on almost every level. For many reasons, this is by far the best book and greatest literary achievement by a political figure in my lifetime.

What's the opposite of the opposite of hyperbole? Oh, yeah. Awesomeness!

Among other things, we discover that Sarah Palin has a ridiculously good memory…

As impressive as the details of the storytelling are, the real strength of Going Rogue is its brutal honesty…

Going Rogue is actually several books in one. It is a compelling biography, a gripping campaign tell-all, an expose on the sad state of our news media, a substantive outline of a political philosophy and even a comprehensive refutation of juicy tabloid rumors…

I believe that if this book is the success that it could and should be, there will be a groundswell among the Republican base demanding that she run. I strongly believe that if every Republican primary voter reads this book, Sarah Palin will win the 2012 nomination in a landslide, whether she wants it or not.

Sarah Palin/Sarah Palin's Book '12!

Palin may have dodged the 2012 question during yesterday's Oprah interview, but with all that grassroots support growin' across Real America, she can't dodge for long. Check out this new ABC/Post poll…

Fifty-three percent [of voters] say they definitely would not vote for Palin if she were to run for president in 2012; that compares with 9 percent who say they'd definitely support her, while the rest, 37 percent, would consider it.

Palin moreover fails a basic hurdle on the road to the White House, were she to choose to take it: Just 38 percent of Americans see her as qualified to serve as president; 60 percent think she's not qualified for the job.

Well, I don't know when "being qualified for the job" became such a qualification for leading this country. Weren't the Founding Fathers just a bunch of farmers and shoeshine boys?

Seventy-six percent of Republicans view her favorably, but that dives to 45 percent of independents and just 21 percent of Democrats. Palin's rated favorably by more men, 48 percent, than women, 39 percent; one reason is that women are more apt to be Democrats. She’s also notably less popular with young adults – just 37 percent of those under age 30 see her favorably, compared with 49 percent of seniors.

Aha! Do you see what's happening here? Do you understand, with your mind? Sarah Palin's millions — if not billions — of supporters are lying low for now. They're keeping quiet. They're not telling the pollsters the truth because the pollsters can't handle the truth. They're waiting to reveal themselves at a more opportune time, perhaps the release date of Going Rogue II: The Wrath of Trig.

Trust me. It's all going according to plan.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha…

Friends and associates are encouraging Fox News chief Roger Ailes to jump into the political arena for real by running for president in 2012, top sources tell POLITICO.

"Ailes knows how to frame an issue better than anybody, and that's what we need now," says one Ailes friend who is encouraging the Fox founder, chairman and CEO to seek the Republican nomination to run against President Barack Obama…

Frank Luntz, the well-known Republican pollster, said Ailes could be a force if he makes the run. "I have known Roger Ailes for 29 years," says Luntz. "No one knows how to win better than Roger."

Really, "friends and associates"? That's your big idea? Just get the boss to go be president. He'll make things all better everywhere and restore America's fortunes to how they were in its glory days never ago. Why, just look at the bang-up job he's done at changing reality over at Fox!

What do you even say about a thing like that? It's absurdly delusional to the point of (almost) being parody. But it really shows you how frightened and confounded and bereft of ideas the right wing mind is these days.

You just keep thinking, Republican Party. That's what you're good at.

The only real hurdle I see so far is Balloon Boy's propensity for vomiting in the face of tough questions. Still, he handles the pressure with more grace than Sarah Palin.

And, for what it's worth, I hear that Meghan McCain's boobs have a much better grasp of economics than their owner's father.

See, according to Mitt, a cap-and-trade system "could cost the average American family $1,761 a year, the equivalent of a 15% income tax hike." Fine, except a) that's not true and b) if you are Mitt Romney, $1,761 is more like the equivalent of a 0.0000015% income tax hike.

Anyway, enjoy watching your 2012 GOP frontrunner as he talks about math and tries to remember to blink in a human-like fashion, and when you're done, how about making a "generous contribution"? Any amount welcome, from $25 to $1,000 to $5,000, maybe with an emphasis on the higher end there.

Just remember: a $5,000 donation to Mitt Romney is the equivalent of a 42.58% income tax hike.

Speaking of, in a weekend interview with the Washington Times, ol' TPaw did everything short of revealing his campaign theme song…

He equated abortion with murder, noted that the Earth is cooling, not warming, and said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and the Treasury secretaries in the Bush and Obama administrations were "misguided" at best in declaring certain financial and manufacturing organizations too big to be allowed to fail.

Dang, this fella Pawlenty, he's some smart. How could the Earth be warming if I had to dig out my sweaters just the other day? But I'm still not convinced that he's the one guy I want to wave cardboard signs for…

In the telephone interview, the 48-year-old, hockey-playing Republican also repeated the standard early denials of presidential aspirations.

Ding ding ding ding!

You know, they say, the difference between a hockey-playing Republican and a pitbull?

A mullet.

"I think that she has talents, but my honest view is that she would not be a winning candidate for the Republican Party in 2012, and in fact, were she to be the nominee, we would have a catastrophic election result."

Now hold your horses, Palinphiles, Steve Schmidt didn't say your gal couldn't get elected in 2012. He just said she would not be a winning candidate for the Republican Party. So what? George W. Bush helped make 'GOP' a synonym for 'incompetent losers,' and we elected him twice.

Besides, if Sarah Palin is the Republican nominee and we wind up with a "catastrophic election result," I'm pretty sure that means she's moving into the White House.

Because when it comes to folksy, aw-shucksy, you-betchaness, he's still got nothing on The Sarahcuda…

As part of an effort to gauge Palin's popularity with the rank and file beyond the Beltway, where the GOP establishment is lukewarm toward the charismatic former governor, POLITICO surveyed nearly 50 prominent Republican Party officials and politicians, representing every region of the country and ranging from statewide-elected officeholders to state legislators to state and county party chairs.

Some refused to talk about her at all. Others, mostly her critics, would do so only off the record. But taken as a whole, the body of interviews revealed that despite Palin's high negative ratings in recent national polls, Republicans at the grass-roots level and their leaders still hold a very favorable impression of the former Alaska governor.

Hmmm… I wonder what's really going on here.

Charles M. Webster, the state GOP chairman in Maine, said Republicans there are very enthusiastic about Palin largely because they can see themselves in her.

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