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Mar. 8--WASHINGTON - Rudy Giuliani came out yesterday against President Bush's call for a ban on gay marriage.

The former mayor, who Vice President Cheney joked the other night is after his job, vigorously defended the President on his post-9/11 leadership but made clear he disagrees with Bush's proposal to rewrite the Constitution to outlaw gays and lesbians from tying the knot.

"I don't think it's ripe for decision at this point," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"I certainly wouldn't support [a ban] at this time," added Giuliani, who lived with a gay Manhattan couple when he moved out of Gracie Mansion during his nasty divorce.

Giuliani took his gay rights stance just as speculation hits a fever pitch that he's in line to replace Cheney on Bush's ticket.

Cheney and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton fueled the vice presidential talk at Saturday night's Gridiron Dinner in Washington.

To a mock question from the audience asking Cheney to step aside for someone with "new energy and vitality," the veep turned to Giuliani and zinged: "You need to do a better job of disguising your handwriting."

Asked yesterday whether he would run with Bush if Cheney stepped aside, the mayor-turned-businessman mimicked Marlon Brando in "The Godfather": "An offer I couldn't refuse, right?" But he didn't say no.

Giuliani conceded he's "out of sync" with his party's conservative base, but likened himself to other moderate GOP stars like Gov. Pataki and Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And while he was cagey on the veep talk, the former mayor said he will run for elected office again, but didn't say which one.

Giuliani is considered a leading GOP hopeful in the 2008 presidential race, though he may decide to challenge Clinton in her 2006 Senate reelection bid.

But for now, Giuliani has been making the rounds burnishing the President's terror-fighting credentials and joining in Republican attempts to portray Kerry as a would-be waffler-in-chief.

He once more defended Bush's use of footage of a flag-draped coffin coming out of Ground Zero in controversial new political ads.

"To leave [Sept. 11] out of a political campaign when you're running for reelection cuts out half your leadership," he said. "I mean, it would make no sense."

But Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who ran against Bush in 2000, disagreed.

"I might not have used the ad of the coffin coming out, or the body coming out of the ruins with a flag on it," he told ABC's "This Week."