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The reopening of the East 91st Street marine transfer station's a controversy a decade in the making. Sparked by Christine Quinn's "environmental racism" comment, the waste disposal spot has infiltrated the mayoral race discussion, leading candidates to pick a side on an issue that involves how we New Yorkers dispose of millions of pounds of trash every day. Republican frontrunner Joe Lhota has pledged to close it if he becomes mayor, but his reasoning is a bit misleading, given his past as Giuliani's go-to garbage defender.

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In a new TV ad, Rudy Giuliani ladles praise on his mayoral disciple. "Joe Lhota is New York," he says, as images flash of Lhota's life as a born-and-raised New Yorker. It's the first official campaign stamp from Lhota's old boss, whom he served as a deputy mayor and liaison to Washington. But the argument Rudy makes for Lhota's candidacy is one of self-plagiarism, in which he posits the candidate (and, in turn, himself) as "running the city" during 9/11--much to the dismay of Lhota's rivals. Ugh, do we have to go back to 2008?

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How did politicians get elected in the '90s? Experience? Fresh Ideas? Strength?

If this Rudy Giuliani ad from 1993 is any indication, all those took a backseat to soft lighting, a full head of hair, and polos. Lots of polos.

From the vault, this campaign spot begs you to imagine not only having Rudy as your mayor, but much, much more. In the words of second wife Donna Hanover, "This is the kind of man I want to be the father of my children."

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Could this be the race we're half-heartedly doomed to cover?

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Rudy days are here again! The guy who wrote this book is now editor of the New York Observer.

We noted last week that the likely mayoral candidacy of former Rat Czar and MTA chief Joe Lhota signaled a push by Rudy Giuliani supporters to turn back the clock to a Giuliani-time New York City.

But it turns out Lhota isn't the only Giuliani protege ascending in the public eye right now. Staffers at the New York Observer learned Friday that they've got a new editor: Ken Kurson.

Kurson touted his "long and honorable journalistic career" to David Carr, who broke the news, and Kurson has certainly been around the media circuit, going all the way back to an internship at Harper's, moving on to a fact-checking gig at Rolling Stone. Most recently, Kurson comes to the Observer from Esquire, where he was a contributing editor.

But Kurson has some political ties that set him apart from your average ink-stained wretch.

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Earlier today, New York's former mayor Rudy Giuliani sat down at the Daily Beast tent at the Republican National Convention to talk politics. Our boy did not disappoint, and the interview, which lasted a little over ten minutes, quickly descended into a perverted game of "fuck, kill, marry." (Giuliani does not want to fuck Ron Paul.)

"I don't get it," he said about the young contingent of voters who still support Ron Paul, Giuliani's old political foe. "I just think they tune out, or they don't understand, or they weren't educated properly.

"I think he's a kook," he admitted. "I think he's a kook, I do." Paul's politics clash strongly with Giuliani's, because Paul had said multiple times that if he'd been president, 3,000 people who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks would still be alive. Giuliani, if you remember, was the city's mayor at the time. He took the veiled insults to heart.

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No one can compare to the Mayor of America.

Endorsements are vital parts of a campaign's method of connecting with voters who would otherwise remain skeptical of a candidate's performance. They run as supplements to the Big Picture, stumping on behalf of a message that they believe in for the most part (search: Republican candidates' speeches about Romney before and after Romney became the dominant frontrunner). 
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Remember all that nasty shit Rudy Giuliani, "America's Mayor," said about Mitt Romney?

If you don't, Business Insider has a rundown of some stinging gems. For example: "This is a man without a core, this is a man without substance, this is a man that will say anything to become president of the United States. I think that is a great vulnerability."

Harsh words. Giuliani nevertheless announced today on "FOX & Friends" (of course) that he's endorsing Romney after all and hey, they're great buds who got breakfast and had a "good long talk" last week.

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Grace Giardina

"If you're the mayor's speechwriter, what's your job" after the Towers fall? You're going to start thinking about "how do you find something redemptive out of this attack? How do you try and encapsulate those emotions?"

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In 2001, when Rudy Giuliani was struggling through his divorce, he was taken in by a gay couple in Midtown for six months. His host, Howard Koeppel, asked Giuliani one morning over breakfast if he would preside over his wedding to partner Mark Hsiao. Giuliani responded, "Howard, I don't ever do anything that's not legal. If it becomes legal in New York, you'll be one of the first ones I would marry." But now that same sex marriage is legal, the former mayor seems to be going back on his word. Koeppel started making calls to Giuliani before the bill legalizing gay marriage had passed, but he has yet to hear back from the former mayor.

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