The future of the US Senate campaign of New York's mayor, Mr Rudolph Giuliani, against Mrs Hillary Clinton appears in serious doubt after a series of extraordinary political and personal setbacks for the man who made his name battling beggars and drug-dealers.
Better known for his combative political style, Mr Giuliani's campaign recently took on the tone of a television soap opera after he made two highly emotional announcements. Two weeks ago the mayor told the city he had prostate cancer. Then on Wednesday last he said he was separating from his wife just days after a tabloid photographed him dining with a Manhattan divorcee. Adding to the political drama, Mr Giuliani's spouse, the actress Donna Hanover, held her own press conference outside the mayoral residence to criticise her husband's relationship with yet another woman, a former female staff member.
While newspapers devoted page after page to the very public collapse of the Giuliani marriage, most were also asking whether the mayor would survive to go on with his highly anticipated Senate run against the First Lady.
Over the weekend Mr Giuliani cancelled several campaign appearances, saying only that he was still a possible candidate. He said he needed to discuss treatments for his cancer with his doctors and to consider whether his health would allow for what promises to be a bruising political campaign. "I just needed the time," Mr Giuliani told reporters on Saturday.
Few doubt the Republican party is dealing with internal jitters over losing its major candidate in the fight against Mrs Clinton.
Several local news outlets quoted sources close to the Giuliani campaign as saying the mayor was likely to make a decision within days. A major Republican convention is just a fortnight away, and party officials will be anxious for a strong showing.
Already Mrs Clinton has tied with Mr Giuliani in recent polls after a slow start. Both candidates were drawing even after Mr Giuliani's cancer announcement, with Mrs Clinton scoring 46 per cent to the mayor's 44 per cent, according to a recent survey by a polling institute.
"The Senate race has been close for months, with a narrow lead switching back and forth between the two candidates. This race is still neck and neck, but Mrs Clinton's neck is a just a little longer this month," said Mr Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac College Polling Institute.
"Beyond the compassion that everyone feels, Mayor Giuliani's prostate cancer has yet to have an impact on the Senate race," he said.
But for the man who battled the Mafia as a federal prosecutor and helped to bring down New York's murder rate as mayor, it was a tough week.
Doctors caught Mr Giuliani's cancer in the early stages, and the disease is treatable. But he has yet to decide on a course of treatment and that could affect his decision on whether to remain in the Senate race.
Mr Giuliani's personal woes took on a sharper edge after the announced break-up of his 16-year marriage. His wife's comments on his relationship with a former press secretary came only after he admitted his new relationship with Ms Judith Nathan, a healthcare executive. If the mayor was fretting over the political fall-out he showed little concern on Friday night.
In full view of television cameras and tabloid press, New York's mayor escorted Ms Nathan to an Italian restaurant, and afterwards walked her home to her Manhattan apartment nearby. He staved off political questions with a rare, relaxed smile. She said simply: "It was delicious."