Bill O’Reilly, the Republican spokesman, is leaving the communication firm he founded nine years to join a firm headed by former Rudy Giuliani aides George Lence and Cristyne Nicholas.

O’Reilly’s Midtown-based firm had lately specialized in Republican clients running against the Republican establishment: they handled conservative Republican John Faso’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign, when most of the George Pataki-centric party establishment was pulling for Bill Weld. That year, the firm also handled the campaign of K.T. McFarland, a latecomer to the Republican Senate primary race who ultimately lost, but not before she blasted Rupert Murdoch's media empire for their coverage of the race.

O’Reilly, a relative of William F. Buckley, is leaving the firm in the hands of its co-founder, Susan Del Percio.

O’Reilly’s email is after the jump.  read more »

Here's a clip of Fred Thompson taking a whack at Rudy Giuliani last night during his midtown appearance before an audience of New York Conservatives.

“I was conservative yesterday, I’m a conservative today and I will be a conservative tomorrow,” he said.

In attendance for the event were Al D’Amato, John Faso, John Catsimatidis, congressional candidate Kieran Lalor, financierBruce Bent and firefighter union head and noted Giuliani critic Steve Cassidy.

After the speech, Thompson shook hands and posed for photos, then ran out of the room, ignoring most reporters questions. A senior advisor to Thompson told me afterwards that the goal of the appearance was in part to “pierce the myth” that Giuliani “is a little bit liberal. He’s very liberal.”

A few minutes ago I ran into Eliot Spitzer's former gubernatorial challenger, John Faso.

Faso has had the unfortunate luck of running against two Democrats who became embroiled in ethical flaps after it would have been of any political use to him. First, he came within about 162,000 votes of of beating Alan Hevesi in 2002. By the 2006 re-election, Hevesi was engulfed in a scandal about using state employees to chauffeur his ailing wife. That year, Faso ran against Spitzer, who now has his own problems.

Faso, now a lobbyist with Manatt, Phelps and Phillips. was heading into City Hall but stopped here to chat with Mickey Carroll of Quinnipiac and City Hall gadfly Rafael Martinez Alequin.

Alequin, never one to miss an opportunity, asked Faso if he was going to run for office again, to which Faso jokingly replied, "I'm running for my life."

Her name is Jessica Proud. Most recently, Proud ran GOTV for state Senate candidate Maureen O'Connell in Nassau and, before that, she worked as a regional coordinator for John Faso.

With Spitzer settling into office, immigrant advocates are now wondering not if but when he'll get around to making those changes.

"Change the policy. It's that simple. DMV's policies could change and they should change. I don't believe and never believed that limiting access to a drivers license which as you rightly point out is necessary to; you need a license to move to go to a job to earn an income and saying to people that we will limit the opportunity seems to me to be the worst way, a backwards way to accomplish anything."

"This is a complex issue which we are reviewing carefully. Before moving forward with any proposal we would do an exhaustive review all security related maters."

Liz notes that one of John Faso's colleagues is among Eliot Spitzer's latest appointments.

Maureen O'Connell will run for Michael Balboni's state Senate seat.

The Caucus has a great picture of Dick Cheney swearing in Hillary Clinton, with Bill looking on happily.

Jeffrey Skilling's lawyer told the Wall Street Journal he's optimistic about appealing his client's convictions.

An outsider wonders if a longtime insider like Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long is really calling for change in Albany.

And pictured above is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will change Congress in 100 hours, and change the Speaker's official website sometime soon. (We're still waiting.)

"We must have the vision to expand Stewart Airport to become the fourth major airport in the tri-state region and to serve as an economic engine for the Hudson Valley," he said.  read more »

State GOP Executive Director Ryan Moses, who backed Bill Weld over party-nominee John Faso, will leave his job Dec. 1 to become the director of government relations at a Syracuse-based law firm.

A Q poll today measuring the popularity of national leaders finds John Kerry wanting.

Greg Sargent condemns the tendency of reporters "to let McCain off the hook for pandering, usually to the right, because he supposedly doesn't actually mean what he says when he's doing it," and calls it something dirty.

Republicans are dangerous to your health, according to Daily Gotham.

Health care in the US gets low marks in a recent Gallup poll.

And above is the invitation to Bloomberg's holiday party for the press corps.

Nothing in there for Stephen Minarik, who will be the Republican State Chairman for at least another few minutes.

So...does that count as a victory?

Throughout this campaign I have been honored to have your support. I cannot thank you enough for your confidence in me and my ideas. Your encouragement has been a source of strength.

With your help, my campaign brought a number of important issues to the forefront of the debate, and in spite of all of his spending promises, we forced Eliot Spitzer to take a pledge to not raise taxes. To make sure that the ideas and solutions we proposed for the future of New York State endure long after the election, I ask that you make every effort to get out to the polls today, and take a friend with you.

If you live or work in the Capital Region, please join me and other supporters at our Election Night Victory Celebration. We will be in Ballrooms A and B at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 40 Lodge Street, beginning at 8:00 pm.

Thank you again for your help, inspiration and friendship.

Best wishes,