Giuliani's B-day (63) fundraising party

Posted by Craig Gordon of Newsday at 6:05 am CDT

Rudolph Giuliani did a morning-to-night birthday fundraising blitz across New York yesterday but ran into some opposition, too, from people protesting his handling of 9/11.

Giuliani took his fundraising pitch to all five boroughs to commemorate his 63rd birthday, which was Monday.

And the candidate for the Republican Party's 2008 presidential nomination was very specific about what he wanted as presents — $250 for his campaign fund to get in the door, $1,000 for a “campaign briefing” with Giuliani and $2,300 for a briefing and photo with the ex-mayor, according to the invite.

The idea was to reach beyond the Manhattan fundraising base of the former New York mayor to tap some other New York financial support — though Giuliani added a late-night fundraiser in Manhattan yesterday as well, his campaign said.

The day started at 8 a.m. in City Island, then onto Douglaston, Queens, and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, before going to Staten Island.

It was in Brooklyn that Giuliani ran into some families and firefighters who have pledged to protest outside his New York appearances to challenge his handling of Sept. 11. They accuse Giuliani of failing to fix radio problems and create an adequate emergency plan before the attacks and believe his image from that day will be tarnished as people learn more.

“My only hope is that people know the truth,” said Peter Gorman, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association.

Giuliani also was confronted by a woman who identified herself as a relative of someone who died in the attacks who asked why people in the towers hadn't gotten out before the collapse.

“How do you sleep at night?” she said. Giuliani said nobody knew the towers would implode the way they did.

Giuliani’s campaign said in a statement last night that the blame for 9/11 should lie with “the murderous terrorists and their supporters ... (who)are clearly and solely responsible for the worst attacks on the United States.”

Stringer Matthew Nestel contributed to this report with Craig Gordon, who reports from the Washington bureau of Newsday, a Tribune Co. newspaper.