It’s Not Giuliani’s Time . . .

A sampling of what Rudy now avoids next week:

Jessica Matos, 25, a single mother from the South Bronx, sounded almost giddy as she talked about the results from Florida and the possibility that Mr. Giuliani would abandon his campaign.

“I was waiting for this moment — he stinks,” declared Ms. Matos as she finished off the last of her French fries at the Crown Donuts Diner on East 161st Street, not far from Yankee Stadium. “Giuliani was always for himself, never for the people. Where I live, a lot of people need help, and he made everything hard for people who needed help. Everything was always for the middle class or the high class. He just forgot about everyone else.”

Across the table, her friend Ivonne Rivera, 38, nodded enthusiastically. “He’s a hypocrite,” she said.

The diner’s owner, Peter Katsihtis, took a more analytical approach. A Republican who plans to vote for a Democrat in November because he wants the United States out of Iraq, Mr. Katsihtis said Mr. Giuliani had not managed to get his message and positions across. “When people decide to vote,” he said, “they want to know what a candidate stands for. He wasn’t effective in getting that across.”

Louis Duran, an elevator mechanic’s assistant seated at a booth by the window, spoke up for Mr. Giuliani.

“I used to be a criminal — I’ve spent time upstate — and I don’t hate Giuliani,” he said. “I thought he did a great job as mayor. I want my parents and family to be safe, and I would have voted for him.”