Before He Was Mayor

Even as Rudy Giuliani climbs to near-frontrunner status in the Republican presidential primary on the strength of his security credentials, it's worth noting there was a time when he couldn't even make his way past a police barricade.

While Mayor Dinkins was in Japan during the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Rudy Giuliani was in the city. But, according to Wayne Barrett's new book on Giuliani and his pre-Sept. 11 record on terrorism:

"Although it was never reported, Rudy Giuliani, who'd narrowly lost to Dinkins in 1989 and was running again, rushed to the site in his campaign car, but was barred by cops from entering."

Barrett's source is "a campaign aide who requested that he not be identified described the Giuliani trip toward the Trade Center in February 1993."