ALBANY—Rudy Giuliani met quietly with a group of upstate Republican county chairmen last week while in town for a motivational speaking rally at the Times Union Center arena.
The get together was organized by Craig Eaton, the Brooklyn Republican chairman, who drove up to Albany with Bronx G.O.P. chair Jay Savino.
The meeting was held in a "green room" and lasted "a half hour, or whatever it was," according to Eaton.
"He just wanted to thank everybody for their support of his presidential campaign and discuss with them some of his ideas for a state constitutional convention," Eaton said. Of a gubernatorial run, he said, "I didn't get a sense that he's committing to it; I got a sense that it's on his radar screen .He's thinking about it. I'm optimistic he's going to do it."
The chairs of the Ulster, Greene, Schenectady, Herkimer and Rensselaer county committees attended, among other party people, Eaton said.
"He was very curious as to what was going on upstate," said Jack Casey, the Rensselaer County chairman. "I think he would be absolutely excellent; he's exactly what the state needs. Until we see the full field, though, we can't make a determination. But his record on economic development and crime is excellent. Rudy would be the right guy. The question is, will he run?"
Eaton said his "Draft Rudy" movement is picking up steam, and that several other counties are expected to join him and Savino "this week." He would not say who.
