http://www.boston.com/dailynews/120/politics/Giuliani_will_decide_by_end_of:.shtml

Giuliani will decide by end of May wheteher to continue campaign

By Marc Humbert,

Associated Press, 4/29/2000 21:32

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (AP) New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who announced last week he has prostate cancer, says he will decide by the end of May whether to continue his Senate campaign.

The mayor's presence in the race has been the only major threat to first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's first bid for public office.

Despite being hit with the news of his cancer Thursday, both candidates spent Saturday courting the Independence Party, New York's wing of the national Reform Party.

Courting third parties is a political necessity in a state where major party candidates can also run on third-party ballot lines, but it's also risky business for both Clinton and Giuliani considering the Reform Party's flirtation with Pat Buchanan as its presidential candidate.

Clinton flatly told party members on Saturday she wouldn't share a ticket with the conservative commentator.

''I cannot and will not, as the price for any endorsement, embrace or excuse those who use hateful rhetoric to separate and divide,'' she told about 100 members of the Independence Party at a forum for Senate candidates.

Clinton, who waited until Friday before agreeing to appear at Saturday's event, also has concerns about the strong influence of Lenora Fulani, a leader of the left-wing New Alliance Party, on the Independence Party. In a strange political marriage, the left-leaning Fulani is backing Buchanan's presidential bid.

''It's completely up in the air,'' party official Frank MacKay said Saturday of the feelings within the party about who the Senate candidate should be. The Independence Party's state convention will be held in late May or early June.

Saturday was Giuliani's second day of campaigning since announcing Thursday that medical tests showed he had prostate cancer. The cancer was detected early and was treatable, he said, but that treatment could mean giving up the campaign.

The mayor has already cut back on his schedule to fit in more medical appointments, though he told Republicans in Saratoga Springs and voters in Buffalo this week that he wants to stay in the race.

''I would like to run, I'm prepared to do it ... but there's this other thing that I have to consider,'' he said.

The Independence Party, with more than 172,471 members, is the state's third largest party, followed by the Conservative Party, with 171,496 members. Both are dwarfed by the Democratic, which has 4.96 million members, and the Republican party with 3.09 million.

Meanwhile, a new poll found Giuliani and Clinton in a statistical dead heat in their race and that the mayor received no ''sympathy bounce'' from his announcement that he has cancer.

The New York Post/Fox TV poll of 601 likely voters from around the state was conducted by Zogby International Friday night and Saturday. Asked who they would vote for in a race between Giuliani and Clinton, 43 percent said the mayor and 43 percent picked Clinton. Most polls conducted before the cancer announcement also had the pair running even.

The latest poll had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.