In a surprise development, New York City's Mayor, Mr Rudolph Giuliani, yesterday dropped out of the race for the US Senate, leaving Mrs Hillary Clinton to face a much lesser known and less formidable opponent in November.
The past two weeks have been gruelling for Mr Giuliani, as he faced a diagnosis of prostate cancer, a separation from his wife of 16 years and disclosure of an ongoing affair with another woman.
Mr Giuliani had said he was weighing his various options in seeking treatment for cancer, ranging from radical surgery to radiation, and that he would make a final decision about the Senate race soon. On Thursday evening, however, before a televised town hall meeting, he said he had yet to make up his mind.
Speculation was rampant about what the Mayor would decide, and several aides said they thought he was leaning toward staying in the race. Political analysts long familiar with the combative Mr Giuliani said they could not imagine him quitting, speculating that he would continue the campaign even while undergoing cancer treatment.
Then suddenly word spread yesterday morning that Mr Giuliani had begun making a series of phone calls to Republican leaders around the state, advising them that he planned to drop out. He scheduled a news conference for late Friday.
His heir apparent is a congressman from Long Island, Mr Rick Lazio, who was elected in 1992. A moderate conservative, Mr Lazio had long made his interest in the seat known, and in fact had hoped in the last to persuade Mr Giuliani not to run. Personable enough, Mr Lazio is only one of 30 congressman from New York, and faces what some are calling "a stature gap" against the First Lady.
Still, there is in New York the so-called ABC factor, Anybody But Clinton. Conservative Republicans across the US have united in a national effort to prevent Mrs Clinton from winning the US Senate seat because they see her as a likely candidate for national office in the future.
Her camp was said to be pleased that the race would be against a lesser-known opponent.
Mrs Clinton, who pledged to visit every one of the state's 62 counties, has already achieved her goal in non-stop months of campaigning. In a respite from that, she is expected to accompany President Clinton to Moscow in June, and join him afterwards in another trip to Ireland.