The Hillary-Rudy conversation might turn out to be the last moment of calm –or civility –in a race that suddenly was less glamorous, but still second only to the presidential contest in its celebrity and high stakes. Hillary remains the bete noire of conservatives from coast to coast –the only Clinton on the ballot this year –and a hero to liberals. If she wins (and Al Gore does not) she will instantly vault to the front ranks of Democratic contenders for the White House. Lazio, for his part, has a chance not only to capture a Democratic Senate seat but to become a Republican star: young (42), telegenic, shrewd –and as frightfully ambitious as the Clintons themselves.

Hillary & Co. professed relief at Rudy’s departure –and said they weren’t particularly worried about the unknown upstart some of them derisively labeled “Little Ricky.” Even some GOP leaders were privately gloomy. “Lazio will be the candidate and Hillary will be the senator,” said one senior party insider in Washington. But Little Ricky once before knocked off a better-known, better-funded candidate (Rep. Tom Downey in 1992), and he has a simple enough game plan: to run as the Local Hero. “I don’t view this as a steppingstone to higher office,” he told NEWSWEEK. “I was born here, fished and clammed here, played Little League here. I’m married to a New Yorker and my two daughters were born here. I know exactly who I am: I’m a New Yorker.”

That’s true enough. The son of the owner of an auto-parts store on Long Island, Lazio “stacked mufflers” and played guitar in local garage bands (“Eric Clapton’s my favorite”) before going off to study political science at Vassar College. His father was a clerk in the local Suffolk County GOP machine. Lazio eventually became a local prosecutor and a member of the county legislature before moving to Congress.

Lazio was prepared for Rudy to fold. He collected $4 million in donations and kept a team of consultants on tap (headed by Mike Murphy, who handled TV ads for Sen. John McCain). Within hours of Mayor Giuliani’s announcement, Lazio had laid on a Learjet for a two-day campaign swing throughout the state. Meanwhile, Republican leaders in Washington, led by Sen. Mitch McConnell, were planning to press Giuliani to turn over most of his own campaign war chest of $9 million to party groups –so the cash could be spent for Lazio. “Hillary’s going to be the issue,” Murphy vows.

On the day the GOP switched candidates, Hillary ignored Lazio and promised to “pray” for Rudy’s recovery. But her attack dogs began barking almost immediately, branding the four-term congressman a malevolent right-winger. Giuliani, the Clintonistas said, was a maverick who had never served in Congress, and thus lacked a voting record that would tie him to the Republican establishment in Washington.

Lazio, elected in 1992, was a different story. “All too often,” Clinton aide Harold Ickes told the New York Post, “Rick Lazio was doing the work of Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey and the rest of the radical Republican leadership.” It’s a potent line of attack in a state where even Republicans tend to take a dim view of the Gingrich legacy. When NEWSWEEK asked Lazio if he considered Gingrich “a friend,” the congressman grew silent. “He is an acquaintance that I worked with when he was speaker,” Lazio finally said.

In fact, Lazio is a deft inside player. He ran Armey’s successful campaign to keep the No. 2 slot. The loyalty paid off: Lazio pulled off the rare feat of serving on two major financial committees, Banking and Commerce. “Rick has what I call ‘viscosity of personality’,” says a Long Island mentor, Rich Bond, former chair of the Republican National Committee. “He has the moves.”

The viscosity is ideological as well. Lazio voted for Gingrich’s “Contract With America,” to abolish the Department of Education, for tuition vouchers and to support an $800 billion GOP tax cut. But while Lazio opposes “partial-birth abortions,” he otherwise is pro-choice, and supports controls on handguns and assault weapons. Though he backed Armey, he heads the moderate GOP “mainstream caucus.” He worked with Democrats on a bill for breast cancer research –but lost interest when his Senate candidacy faded. When it revived, he hijacked the measure and refashioned it as a GOP (and his own) proposal.

As for Giuliani, he made it clear last Friday that he had lost interest in the world of political maneuver. At 55, he faces extensive treatment for prostate cancer –treatment, he said, that would sap his energy until at least August or September. A lifelong Yankees fan, he sounded like the ailing Lou Gehrig in his last appearance. “I am a very fortunate man,” said the mayor. He seemed relieved to be out of the lineup, and Lazio just as happy to take his place.