NEW YORK - Seeking support from a small, but influential, party, US Senate candidates Rudolph Giuliani and Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared before Liberal Party officials in Manhattan yesterday.
Each candidate answered policy questions on topics ranging from education to foreign affairs put to them by the Liberal Party's policy committee in a Manhattan hotel suite. Each session lasted about one hour, with Clinton appearing first.
The policy committee will make an endorsement recommendation to the full state committee. The party will make its official endorsement this month.
''I had a very good discussion about a lot of issues,'' Clinton said after her session. ''I thought it was a very positive conversation.''
No Democrat has won statewide office without the Liberal Party's backing since it was founded 56 years ago, but because of the long friendship between the Republican Giuliani and Liberal Party boss Raymond Harding, the New York mayor is seen as having an advantage over Clinton.
Giuliani has won the party's backing in each of his three runs for mayor and Harding has remained one of the mayor's closest confidants. Giuliani has hired two of Harding's sons, including Robert, one of Giuliani's deputy mayors.
''I'm very well aware of the mayor's relationship with Mr. Harding and the party,'' said Clinton, a Democrat.
The Liberal Party nod however, would not be without its pitfalls for Giuliani, chiefly because Conservative Party leader Michael Long has said that his party would not endorse the mayor for Senate if he accepts the support of the Liberal Party.
No Republican candidate has won statewide office in more than 25 years without Conservative Party backing.
Giuliani said yesterday that he has overwhelming support among conservative voters and feels he should have a shot at the party's nomination.
Giuliani said he has not decided whether he will pull out of the Senate race because of his prostate cancer.
Meanwhile, Giuliani's wife, Donna Hanover, held a news conference outside St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday before she attended a Mass for Cardinal John O'Connor.
Hanover, who at times appeared to be near tears, thanked those who have offered her support since her husband announced his cancer and acknowledged that Judi Nathan, a woman who has been seen accompanying the mayor around town, is ''a very good friend.''
''I appreciate all the love and kind thoughts that so many people have sent to me and my children during these difficult days,'' said Hanover. ''I will be supportive of Rudy in his fight against this illness, as this marriage and this man have been very precious to me,'' she said.
Giuliani declined to comment on his wife's press conference, but said he was not surprised by a Daily News/New York 1 poll released yesterday that found that 77 percent of respondents believed the mayor's relationship was a private matter.
''I think most New Yorkers feel the way I feel,'' he said. ''I share a lot of their feeling, which is that somebody's private life should be left alone and that the mere fact that you are a public official does not mean that you are not a human being and that you don't have the same issues and things that go on that other human beings do.''
