Why Giuliani Leads In the Polls

Ok, maybe it's because in the eyes of many he'll forever be "America's Mayor", not right, but for now it is what it is. Yet regardless of all his weaknesses, I honestly think that Rudy's biggest strength is that when he looks across at his competition, he's sees them for what they are: pretty weak. And that's why he won last night's GOP debate with ease: he's more experienced and he comes to the show better prepared. Then too Rudy sees an opening (i.e. a field of candidates so lame that even Tommy Thompson is still hanging around) he knows how to exploit the hole and gain significant yardage:

First, he plays up the New Hampshire crowd:

I’m Rudy Giuliani. I agree with the motto of your state, “Live free or die.” And I think it would be a pretty good one for our time.

Then some straight talk on Saddam and the war on terror:

It’s unthinkable that you would leave Saddam Hussein in charge of Iraq and be able to fight the war on terror. And the problem is that we see Iraq in a vacuum. Iraq should not be seen in a vacuum. Iraq is part of the overall terrorist war against the United States.

Finally, he tells conservatives and anti-liberals like myself exactly what we want to hear about Scooter Libby's sentence:

I think the sentence was way out of line. I mean, the sentence was grossly excessive in a situation in which at the beginning, the prosecutor knew who the leak was and he knew a crime wasn’t committed.

For a transcript of last night's debate you can go here.