From The Daily Telegraph:

Some of the biggest Republican donors to George W Bush’s presidential campaigns are backing Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, for the White House as the candidate who can beat Hillary Clinton in 2008.

Over a private lunch of sea bass and hamburgers at New York’s 21 Club recently, Mr Giuliani addressed nearly three dozen of the men who helped propel Mr Bush to the presidency. They included “Pioneers”, who donated more than $100,000 to Bush campaigns, and “Rangers” who gave at least $200,000.

There are two important points expressed by the people at the meeting. The first of which pertains to Sen. McCain:

Patrick Oxford, a major Bush contributor from Houston who attended the lunch, said that despite having courted the top Bush donors for years, Senator John McCain, seen as the Republican front runner for 2008, had not persuaded all of them.

“Every Republican leader and fundraiser has had the chance to contribute to or join the McCain team. If he’s not seen to be the inevitable choice by now, perhaps that signals something,” Mr Oxford said.

“The great success of President Bush in 2000 was that he created an aura of inevitability relatively early. I suspect that’s been the McCain effort as well and the polling numbers don’t reflect that he’s done that.”

Secondly, regarding Rudy’s social positions:

Mr. Giuliani is seen as a hero of the September 11th attacks for his dignified and patriotic performance as New York mayor, as well as being known as a foreign policy hawk. He has therefore been able to tackle head-on the concerns that his liberal stances on abortion, gun control and gay marriage make him unacceptable to ordinary Republicans.

“Closer analysis will find that his positions on those three particular issues are not hands-down odious to the Republican rank and file,” said Mr Oxford.

This is really the most important thing that we can take away from this article. Hizzoner made a point to address the concerns of these financial heavy hitters in order to convince them that his past social views can be addressed in a way that will be acceptable to the people who vote in the primaries. From what we know, Rudy was successful in making his case due to who has signed on to his exploratory committee.