Big Apple Flavor at the Florida Deli

Giuliani's Sunshine State Race May Hinge On Voters in a New York State of Mind

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- The best place to meet the Floridians who could save Rudy Giuliani's hide is here at the Flakowitz Bagel Inn, where just about everybody is from New York, and just about everyone remembers how the former mayor either: (a) cleaned up their city, or (b) turned out to be a real jerk.

"He's a very, very smart guy," says Carl Liss, 79, a transplant from Queens who's sitting at the long counter, eating a bagel with low-fat cream cheese. (Cholesterol. Heart condition.) "I personally wouldn't vote for him."

"I don't like him," says a woman sitting a few seats down the counter.

The great thing about New Yorkers is that they don't subscribe to that adage that it's better to say nothing if you have nothing nice to say. (Giuliani himself is an excellent example of this principle.) Everybody's happy to share an opinion. John McCain? Too old. Hillary Clinton? A disaster waiting to happen. And Rudy?

Oh, Rudy.

"Why don't you like Giuliani?" Liss asks.

"9/11. The policemen, the firemen weren't prepared for anything," says the nearby woman, whose name is Rhoda Zelniker, 61. She's one of those snowbirds from Long Island -- winters here, summers up north. She's eating eggs and sausage and looks annoyed.

"The other issue is a women's issue," she says. "He's a bum." She starts in on how Giuliani started dating his current wife, Judi, when he was still married to his second wife.

"What's that have to do with his being president?" asks the guy next to her.

"Why wouldn't he cheat on the country?" Zelniker says. "If you're a cheater, you're a cheater."

Bush stinks, "and he doesn't cheat," says the fellow at the other end of the counter, attempting to employ reverse logic.

"They all cheated," says Liss, and he starts talking about the Kennedys.