We Utter the G-Word Again

The well-connected Robert Novak breathes hope into the moribund prospects for 2008 with this insider information (we have inserted the emphases):

Well-connected public figures report that they have been told recently by Rudolph Giuliani that, as of now, he intends to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

The former mayor of New York was on top of last month's national Gallup poll measuring presidential preferences by registered Republicans, with 29 percent. Sen. John McCain's 24 percent was second, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich third at 8 percent. National polls all year have shown Giuliani running either first or second to McCain, with the rest of the presidential possibilities far behind.

Republican insiders respond to these numbers by saying rank-and-file GOP voters will abandon Giuliani once they realize his position on abortion, gay rights and gun control. Party strategists calculate that if he actually runs, he must change on at least one of these issues.

So yet again, but as we haven't for awhile, we offer yet again a challenge to those principled Republican conservatives who say that Rudy (a) won't run; (b) can't get elected by Republicans; (c) is no friend to conservatives. None of the three propositions are self-evident.

But what we think is self-evident is that Rudy's presence in the race will make it a considerably more serious one, with a better prospect for a salubrious outcome.

And we still entertain fantasies that the former mayor could induce the superb Condi Rice, who appears determined not to run for President in 2008, to serve as his formidable running mate, changing this country's politics forever.