Just what exactly is Rudy Giuliani trying to accomplish by going from state to state, giving fundraising speeches, making ads for various candidates, and donating to local campaigns?? There seems to be two schools of thought regarding the strategy that Rudy is utilizing here.

First, many believe that Rudy is 2006′ing for 2008.? In other words, he’s going around trying to snag IOUs and gain favorability amongst the conservative grassroots voting base in anticipation of a 2008 presidential run.? While he really does want to help out local Republican candidates, he has his eye on 2008 in a very serious way and is using 2006 to build rapport in advance of that.? This seems to be the consensus of most on this blog, and in the blogosphere in general.

However, there is another, admittedly smaller, school of thought.? Rudy Giuliani is 2008′ing for 2006.? Or to put it another way, he is raising his possible 2008 presidential profile in order to pack more of a punch for Republicans in 2006.? Think about it: Who holds more sway in a Congressional election than someone many assume will be running for President next year?? Why?are Rudy (someone who’s not running for anything this year), McCain (someone who is not facing any challenge for his Senate seat this year), and Hillary (like McCain, pretty much) getting all the media face time while the candidates of some of the hottest races this year, like Michael Steele or Mike DeWine?or Tom Kean, getting not even a fraction of the national television time that the aforementioned three are getting?? It’s because, it doesn’t matter what election year it is–the public’s interest is always higher for the next presidential election than it is for the next midterm election.? So, perhaps Rudy is pulling the opposite–perhaps he’s giving coy answers about his presidential interest and setting up a PAC and travelling frequently to key primary states for the sole purpose of making people pay?more attention to him in the ’06 elections.

There are signs that this may be exactly what Giuliani is doing.? He has been suspiciously noncommital about a presidential run, for starters, while at the same time he has never hesitated to say that he hasn’t ruled it out.? He has also been very reluctant to make any significant moves to the right on the issues that many think will be fatal to him in the primaries (the right to life, the sanctity of marriage, Second Amendment rights, campaign finance reform legislation) and is showing a consistent unwillingness to change to please those he will have to please if he wants to be elected president.? He has also been very lax to set up any major sort of political organization and has been standing by mostly idly while McCain and Romney snatch up all the cream of the crop campaign workers.

If Rudy were to really stop and think about it, would he really want to have to compete against his good friend McCain in what will likely be one of the most heated and unforgiving presidential races in the memory of this entire generation?? Does he really think he will fly that far when he is sat down in a presidential debate on live national television and he’s the only one at the roundtable who’s pro-choice, pro-partial birth abortion, pro-gun control, and a gay rights activist?? Does he really think it will fly that far with social conservatives when he gets up on stage to give a campaign rally speech with his former-mistress/now-third wife Judith standing next to him, while, simultaneously, someone like Mitt Romney is getting up on stage to give a campaign rally speech with his MS-inflicted wife Ann next to him (Mitt’s first love whom he has stayed with through thick and thin for nearly 40 years)?

How will Rudy be able to rally conservatives who care deeply about the sanctity of marriage with Judith Nathan standing at his side?? How will Rudy be able to convince the NRA to get behind him when it comes out that?his administration sued 26 gun makers in 2000, and proposed a nationwide plan for gun licensing, complete with yearly “safety” inspections?? How will Rudy be able to win the support of anti-illegal immigration conservatives in the primaries when it comes out that, as Mayor, he sued the federal government in 1997 in an effort to keep NYC’s employees from having to cooperate with the INS?? And, if it turns out that Hillary Rodham appears to be the Democratic choice, how will he convince Republicans to get behind him when it comes out that he was quoted as saying that “most of Clinton’s policy’s are very similar to most of mine”?? Surely Giuliani has already taken these things into consideration beforehand.

Rudy Giuliani is a smart guy and he’s very politically astute.? Could it be that he himself has concluded that he cannot win the 2008 presidential primaries and is merely raising speculation about ’08 to help out candidates more this year?? It’s possible.

It is, however, also possible that Rudy Giuliani really is going to run for president in 2008.? He very well might be playing the “waiting” game, where he is one of the late entries, giving his opponents less time to smear him and forcing the national media to pay?particular?attention to him when one of the biggest heavyweights of the race bursts in months after everyone else is old news.? Also, all of his endorsements and fundraising speeches that he’s been paying for out of his own pocket to do on behalf of local Republican candidates sure racks up a lot of IOUs that he could cash in in 2008.? On top of all this, he sure is spending a lot of time and money travelling to key election states (IA, NH, SC, etc.) for someone who doesn’t really intend to throw his hat in the ring in ’08.? That, and his very emphatic denials that he has ruled out an ’08 run continue to lead many to believe he really intends to be a candidate.

The fact remains, whether Rudy?is 2006′ing for 2008, or he’s 2008′ing for 2006, he’s doing?a pretty good job at both, and should be given serious consideration in the upcoming presidential race.