Geraldo Considers Bid for NYC’s Top Office
Aug. 31 -- It’s hard to imagine a mayor for New York that is more outspoken than the current top dog, Rudy Giuliani, but just wait — it could happen.
Giuliani’s time in office is running out and there’s a new candidate in town: Native New Yorker Geraldo Rivera.
Considering the recent success of other entertainer- turned-politicians — like former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura, who is now Governor of Minnesota — maybe Geraldo’s political time has come. Still, if the sound of the words “Mayor Geraldo” sound outrageous, he is the first to encourage you to laugh.
“I expect the first reaction to be, ‘Geraldo as mayor, haha,” Rivera told The New York Times.
And it’s fair to expect some guffaws. While Rivera has paid his dues as a journalist, covering legal issues and even winning a Peabody award, he’s best known as one of the first daytime talk show hosts that provided a stage for guests to argue, rant and air their most personal grievances on TV.
He’s now looking for a chance to lead New Yorkers, who are also known for their strong opinions and heated arguments over everything from where to get the best bagel to rent control laws.
This Campaign Is for Real
The longtime television journalist says he is serious about an independent campaign formayor, after a “totally self-financed” petition drive to get hisname on the ballot.
“I think the city needs someone from the outside,” Rivera saidThursday on NBC’s Today.
Rivera said he was only exploring a possible campaign and thathe was considering commissioning a poll to determine his chances.
Rivera numbered among his qualifications a long career coveringissues of relevance to the city, his background as a lawyer, and,as he told the Times: “My whole gene pool is New York. I’m Puerto Rican and Jewish.”
Should Rivera run for mayor he would enter a long New Yorktradition of media figures’ seeking to run for City Hall, reachingat least as far back as the newspaper publisher William RandolphHearst in 1905 and including efforts by William F. Buckley Jr., theconservative writer and talk show host, in 1965 and the novelistNorman Mailer in 1969. They all lost.
Related Stories
ABC News Live