Badillo still sees negative sales growth continuing through the summer before turning positive in the fourth quarter.

FORBES: Commerce

One Republican hopeful is Herman Badillo, a still-sprightly 71-year-old Hispanic veteran of New York politics, who abandoned the Democrats to become a close ally of Mr Giuliani and, unlike the mayor, has a good record in education reform.

ECONOMIST: The mayor??s race in New York: Life after Rudy | The