AL TAPS RICK TO TORTURE RUDY

REMEMBER Rick Lazio? He was the baby-faced Long Island Republican picked as a sacrificial lamb to run against the Hillary Clinton juggernaut in the US Senate race in 2000 after Rudy Giuliani dropped out. Lazio, a former congressman, left politics to work at JP Morgan. But now he might run against Giuliani in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary. “Al D’Amato is behind it to undercut Giuliani,” one insider explained. D’Amato and Giuliani have long hated each other. By waging a rough, drawn-out primary battle, “Lazio could be expected to help Gov. Paterson win re-election.” Politicos were shocked to see D’Amato front-and-center at Paterson’s introduction of Kirsten Gillibrand as Clinton’s replacement in the Senate. The Lazio gambit helps explain the growing friendship between Paterson and D’Amato. The strategy has been tried before. In 1989, when Giuliani was running for mayor, D’Amato backed billionaire Ronald Lauder as his Republican challenger. Although Lauder spent a sizable chunk of his fortune, Giuliani prevailed easily.