RICK LAZIO could be in very big trouble if an internal poll taken by Mayor Giuliani is to be believed.
Shortly before Giuliani dropped out of the race in May, pollster Frank Luntz determined that if Al Gore beats George W. Bush by more than 12 percentage points in New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton would win the Senate election.
A CBS/New York Times poll yesterday showed Gore with a 28-point lead over Bush statewide, while a recent Post poll gave the vice president a 20-point margin.
“With Bush getting clobbered … Rick is in really big trouble,” said one Giuliani insider.
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Lazio got a warm reception earlier this week from an unexpected group – a bunch of Secret Service agents.
The congressman bumped into the squad of agents – who were waiting for Hillary’s arrival – when he went into the rest room at the Port Authority Police building at La Guardia Airport.
Lazio was on his way out of the building to catch his charter jet for an upstate campaign hop when two of the agents recognized him.
“They shook his hand, said, ‘Good luck, good luck,’ and gave him the thumbs-up sign,” said a staffer, who added that four or five other agents later waved when Lazio’s car drove past.
The agents were waiting to accompany Hillary to an event in The Bronx.
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In what may be a first in New York politics, a woman who died left a request that mourners pay their respects by donating to Lazio’s campaign.
Lucy Simpson, a Republican who passed away last week in Binghamton, believed the memorial contributions would have more of an impact on the Senate contest than her single vote, according to relatives.
“She felt it’s very important – for the future of the state and the future of the country – that we not fall into a personality-cult situation with another member of the Clintons,” her son, Hugh, told The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin.
Lazio offered the Simpson family his condolences.
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Mayor Giuliani may be barred from keeping people out of City Hall Plaza – but Hillary apparently can do just that.
Just before Clinton arrived for a press conference Wednesday on the City Hall steps, a man appeared in the plaza dressed up as Abe Lincoln and carrying a sign reading, “Stop Renting the Lincoln Bedroom.”
As he yelled at a group of reporters, including The Post’s Maggie Haberman, that the first lady should “stop renting out my bedroom,” Secret Service agents moved toward him.
He kept yelling, and two agents escorted him outside the plaza.