Rudy Giuliani yesterday dodged questions about a potential 2010 gubernatorial run — but suggested any chance of his being elected would depend on how bad things get for the state.

“I got elected mayor, I believe, on the theory of ‘It can’t get worse.’ So if it gets to that point, maybe I’ll decide [to go for it],” Giuliani half-joked at a crowded Crain’s New York breakfast in Midtown.

Then, turning serious, he said, “If I thought I could make a real difference in the state, really change things . . . I would do it.”

Asked where things stand statewide on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the way things were in the city when he was elected in 1993, he said, “New York is in pretty bad shape . . . We are somewhere around, in terms of problems, 9 or 10.”

Also factoring into his decision about whether to run, he said, is the issue of what to do with his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, and law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani.

As for Gov. Paterson, Giuliani declined to take pot shots, saying, instead, that Paterson doesn’t deserve to be blamed for the last month’s legislative dysfunction.

He did, however, criticize President Obama, saying the nation “made a mistake” by electing him.

(Source: NY Post)