Rudy Opens His Checkbook

To help out fellow GOPer's this cycle:

Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani has been stumping across the country for Republican candidates, and new campaign filings show he's bringing his checkbook with him. He shelled out $126,900 to GOPers last month.

While he gave money to candidates from Florida to Washington state, the biggest chunk went to a New Yorker: John Faso, the Republican running for governor against Eliot Spitzer.

Giuliani has been a popular fundraiser for Republicans since winning widespread praise for his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Giuliani's recent political schedule emphasizes helping fellow Republicans and simultaneously boosts his own profile within the party. He has said he will not decide whether to run for president until after the 2006 elections.

Last week, he made his first major political trip to South Carolina, the state which traditionally hosts the first Republican primary in the South.

On Monday, he appeared at an upstate New York firehouse with Rep. John Sweeney, who is battling a well-funded Democratic challenger this year. Later this week, he headlines a rally at a Pennsylvania firehouse for embattled Rep. Jim Gerlach.

Giuliani's political donations came in the form of $2,000 or $5,000 checks from his PAC Solutions America to candidates that included House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois and New Mexico Congresswoman Heather Wilson.

"It's just evidence of what Rudy Giuliani's been saying all along, which is that he's strongly supporting Republican candidates across the country," said Solutions America spokesman John Avlon. Records show the group also registered a new Web site last month, but Avlon declined to say what it was.

Giuliani's PAC has taken in $2 million this year.

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