1) Fred Thompson doesn’t appear to have hurt Rudy Giuliani’s presidential ambitions too much.

2) The New York Times has freed up much of its online archives.

Therefore,

1) One can contemplate a presidential race next year between Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton, absurd as that seems. And:

2) One can search the New York Times archives for articles from 2000, when Giuliani and Clinton ran against each other for the U.S. Senate before Rudy dropped out due to prostate cancer.

Here are some examples.

Giuliani Basks in Glare on Mrs. Clinton, Potential Opponent
(Feb. 22, 1999)

Sounding very much like a candidate for the Senate in 2000, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani used interviews on three local and national television news programs today to criticize Hillary Rodham Clinton and to tout his own potential as New York’s next junior Senator.

As Giuliani Jabs, First Lady Plays Nice as a Campaigner
(July 31, 1999)

[A]t least for now, the First Lady is consciously avoiding direct engagement with her potential rival. And that is emerging as an early stylistic distinction between these two very high-profile candidates.

In the same week that Mr. Giuliani flew to Arkansas to draw attention to one of his recurrent criticisms of Mrs. Clinton — that she has never lived a day in New York — the First Lady has studiously avoided any mention of the Republican Mayor. That became particularly obvious at a news conference today, her third since beginning these tours, in which she softly batted aside a procession of inviting pitches from reporters intended to draw her out on the subject of her potential Republican opponent.

“I’m not going to comment on someone else’s campaign tactics,” Mrs. Clinton said…

Mayor Lashes Out, and Mrs. Clinton Says He’s Always Angry
(Dec. 23, 1999)

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani asserted yesterday that Democrats in Washington and New York were conspiring to discredit him as he prepared to run for the United States Senate, while Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested that Mr. Giuliani was consumed by an anger that could undercut his effectiveness in Congress.

Mrs. Clinton Tries to Link Giuliani’s Policies to Bush’s
(March 11, 2000)

(I’m sure we’ll be seeing this headline next year as well!)

Just three days after the Super Tuesday presidential primary, Hillary Rodham Clinton sought today to link Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, her opponent in the race for United States Senate, with the Republican Party’s all-but-nominated presidential candidate, Gov. George W. Bush.

Best Wishes for Opponent For Senate: Break a Leg
(March 12, 2000)

After more than a year of shunning each other, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani shook hands before sitting down to the annual Inner Circle dinner show last night, where the mayor starred in a lampoon performance of “Saturday Night Fever.”

Giuliani Asserts Mrs. Clinton Is the One Polarizing the City
(March 22, 2000)

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said yesterday that Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has accused the mayor of racially polarizing New York City, was projecting her own feelings onto him. The mayor’s assertion came as the police shooting death of Patrick Dorismond reverberated through City Hall and the State Legislature and into the United States Senate campaign.

Mrs. Clinton Prods Giuliani to Reveal His Stand on Issues
(April 12, 2000)

(Another one we’ll be seeing again!)

Hillary Rodham Clinton asserted today that Rudolph W. Giuliani was avoiding discussion of how he would vote in the United States Senate, and said it was not enough to ask voters to judge him based solely on his record as mayor of New York, as Mr. Giuliani has suggested.

Giuliani Fighting Prostate Cancer; Unsure on Senate
(April 28, 2000)

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani announced yesterday that he had prostate cancer in an early, treatable form. He said he hoped to continue his campaign for United States Senate, but would not make any definite decisions about the race until he had settled on a course of treatment.

Giuliani and His Wife of 16 Years Are Separating
(May 11, 2000)

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani’s marital problems exploded yesterday in a public exchange with his wife, Donna Hanover. The mayor abruptly announced that he was seeking a separation from Ms. Hanover, and Ms. Hanover, caught unaware, then said that the couple’s troubles began years ago because of a previous relationship between the mayor and a member of his staff.

At an extraordinary, emotional news conference in Bryant Park, Mr. Giuliani also said that as he battles prostate cancer he will turn “more now than maybe I did before” to Judith Nathan, the woman he describes as a very good friend.

Mr. Giuliani did not say whether he would continue his campaign for the Senate against Hillary Rodham Clinton, but he did say that his political career was not his first concern. Speculation about other candidates raced through the city last night, reflecting Republican fears that Mr. Giuliani would withdraw.

Giuliani Quits Race for Senate
(May 20, 2000)

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani withdrew from the most celebrated Senate race in the nation yesterday, saying that his health and his still-undecided treatment for prostate cancer were more important to him than his campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Finally, I like this quote:

Only one thing seemed to hurt New Yorkers uniformly: the end of what had promised to be a rousing political brawl between Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and his opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“I wanted to see the knockdown, mud-slinging campaign…”

We may yet see one.

Epilogue:

The mayor, the adviser insisted, never had a visceral dislike for Mrs. Clinton, even though he repeatedly attacked her as left-wing, a fake Yankee fan, a carpetbagger and without any qualifications to run for Senate.

The adviser even said that Mr. Giuliani referred to Mrs. Clinton as “a nice lady” after she grabbed his hand and said hello at the Inner Circle dinner show in Manhattan in March.

“You can’t go into battle like that,” the adviser said, referring to the campaign and Mrs. Clinton, “if you don’t want to rip their guts out.”

Finally:

Giuliani Defends Mrs. Clinton.