Giuliani Has Prostate Cancer; Run for Senate Is Uncertain

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani revealed Thursday that he has prostate cancer, casting doubt over his U.S. Senate race against Hillary Rodham Clinton. The mayor told a quickly arranged City Hall news conference that the cancer is treatable, is in an early stage and has not spread beyond the prostate gland.

“I was diagnosed yesterday with prostate cancer,” said Giuliani, whose father died of the disease in 1981 at the age of 73. “The bad news is that it’s cancer. The good news is that there are lots of possible options, and it’s going to take a while to figure out which option is going to bring about a cure.

“Over the next week, maybe two . . . or three weeks, I’ll figure out with my doctors what the best form of treatment will be.”

The 55-year-old Giuliani told a room packed with reporters and staff members that for the time being he will continue campaigning and will make a planned appearance in upstate New York over the weekend.

But he left the door open to dropping out of the Senate race.

“I think in fairness to me, to the Republican Party, to all the parties and everybody else . . . I really need to know what the course of treatment is going to be.

“After I determine that, then I will figure out does it make sense this year or doesn’t it,” he added.

The diagnosis clearly is a setback for the tough former federal prosecutor and two-term mayor, who is the dominant political figure in New York. Critics charge Giuliani has sought to rule the city with an iron hand and has been insensitive to the problems of minorities; supporters point to record-low crime rates and an economic turnaround under his administration.

Giuliani called the news conference to reveal his diagnosis a day after he was seen leaving Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan.

Physicians confirmed the cancer through biopsies after two blood tests designed to detect early prostate cancer showed elevated levels of prostate-specific antigen, or PSA.

Campaigning Thursday in Pen Yan, N.Y., Mrs. Clinton said she hopes Giuliani will return to good health.

“Like all New Yorkers, my prayers and best wishes are with the mayor for a full and speedy recovery,” the Democratic candidate said. “And I hope everyone joins me in wishing him well as he undergoes the treatment that is required.”

Later, she phoned Giuliani. “She wished him well and said she hoped for his complete and speedy recovery, and he thanked her for the call,” Howard Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign spokesman, told reporters.

Even though he has been making campaign appearances and raising money, Giuliani has not formally announced that he will seek the seat being vacated by veteran Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Advisors stressed Thursday that the mayor certainly is a candidate.

His campaign communications director, Juleanna Glover Weiss, said the mayor will continue his campaign schedule.

“We still anticipate that he will be the senator from New York,” she said.

Some recent polls have shown that the mayor is trailing Mrs. Clinton.

The Quinnipiac College Poll--taken earlier this month for the New York Daily News and New York One television--found Mrs. Clinton holding a 46%-to-43% lead over Giuliani. While the numbers represented a statistical dead heat, a month earlier the same poll had the mayor ahead by 7 percentage points.

The poll also found Giuliani’s statewide approval rating had plunged to its lowest point ever, 34%, in the wake of his response to the fatal March shooting by police officers of Patrick Dorismond, an unarmed security guard.

Only 19% of respondents to the survey agreed that the mayor was justified in releasing the dead man’s juvenile criminal record, which had been sealed under court order.

Some upstate Republicans have complained that the mayor has spent insufficient time in their districts, privately saying at times that it seemed his heart wasn’t in the race--and that perhaps he preferred to wait to run for governor.

“I strongly believe he is not going to withdraw,” said George Arzt, a New York political consultant. “But if he wanted to, this would be an understandable way out. The idea of him fighting cancer on one hand and Hillary on the other makes it much more of a challenge for him. He is a guy who never backs away from a fight.

“The picture remains very, very clouded. His announcement today makes him much more of a sympathetic candidate.”

Giuliani faces a deadline. The Republican state convention is set for May 30 in Buffalo. Political experts said it would hurt the party if he dropped out after accepting its nomination.

Waiting in the wings is Rep. Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.), who at one time considered challenging Giuliani for the GOP nomination. On Thursday, the congressman from Long Island said he sends Giuliani his prayers and support.

Some politicians even raised the possibility of the party turning to Gov. George Pataki to face Mrs. Clinton if Giuliani withdraws.

In a statement, Donna Hanover, the mayor’s wife, asked for as much privacy as possible for her husband.

“I’m very optimistic about Rudy’s recovery,” she said. “We have discussed this, and I will be very supportive of him in dealing with the choices he has to make.”

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy detected in American men, with 179,300 new cases reported in 1999. Many men with localized disease show no symptoms. An elevated PSA level increases a patient’s risk for cancer, although other tests are performed to confirm the diagnosis.

Physicians said the mayor might undergo magnetic resonance imaging or bone scans to rule out spread of the disease.

Treatment options include surgery, radiation or watchful waiting. Physicians often recommend surgery for patients in Giuliani’s age group whose cancer is localized. Surgery would mean a recovery period that could force his campaign to be put on hold.

At the news conference, the mayor--a lifelong New York Yankee fan--said he would speak with one of his heroes, team manager Joe Torre, who underwent successful surgery for prostate cancer last year. Giuliani joked with reporters when asked whether he would be mellower and perhaps nicer after treatment.

“No way,” he said with a big smile.

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Fact Sheet on Prostate Cancer

Frequency: Cancer of the prostate is the second most common type of cancer in American men, behind skin cancer.

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Cases: A total of 179,300 American men were diagnosed with the disease in 1999.

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Treatments: Include removal of the prostate and radiation. Doctors also often recommend “watchful waiting,” or leaving the cancer untreated, in elderly men who are more likely to die first of other ailments.

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Survival rates: Prostate cancer can be cured if detected and treated before it has spread. However, it is incurable once it has spread beyond the prostate gland. Overall, 92% of victims survive at least five years with the disease, but after that the death rate begins to rise.

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On the Net: American Cancer Society, https://www.cancer.org

National Cancer Institute, https://www.nci.nih.gov