Mark Steyn argues:
A McCain victory in SC has to be good news for Giuliani because the narrative becomes “Stop McCain!” and Rudy’s best poised to do that – not just because his numbers in Florida haven’t yet collapsed to the same undetectable levels as they have everywhere else, but because Huck and Mitt and Fred will be fairly proven failures at the “Stop McCain” game. So, if stopping him’s your priority, then Rudy’s the one-stop shop after everyone’s stopped shopping around. He’ll be the last ABM (Anyone-But-McCain) in with a shot.
Ross Douthat disagrees:
But with his “three golds and two silvers” and his delegate lead, Romney still looks sufficiently viable that he, not Rudy, is shaping up to be the natural “stop McCain” candidate in Florida for movement conservatives who can’t stand the Arizona Senator. Moreover, everything we’ve seen so far suggests that Giuliani and McCain are competing for a similar demographic within the GOP primary electorate…
I find myself in the unusual position of being more persuaded by Douthat. As I noted yesterday, the profile of the Romney voter  at least nationally  is that of the NotHuckabee-NotMcCain voter. Plus, Romney has a big checkbook, while Rudy is defunding his staffers.
However, neither Stein nor Douthat take account of Giuliani’s aggressive early voting campaign in the Sunshine State. Giuliani’s camp claims to have “the largest, most capable early voting and absentee chase program in the state.”  Rudy was touting heavy early voting on television last night. And I am usually a sucker for a story about the ground game being missed by the establishment media.
Florida is a winner-take-all state. If Giuliani locked in enough votes before his poll numbers started falling, he could possibly walk away with 57 delegates — which would put him just eight delegates short of Romney. But it still seems like a big gamble that the voting machines will come up triple-oranges for Rudy instead of triple lemons.
After a bitter battle to defeat McCain and his Amnesty Bill I am shocked that Conservatives in South Carolina would even consider voting for him.
I’ll listen to anybody that will tell me Giuliani still has a good chance. I lurve him.
Romney I just can’t get excited about. He’s handsome and successful, but it just isn’t there for us. It isn’t him, it’s me. I don’t know what the FL voters will do, though. It’s a pretty diverse electorate.
MayBee, I think it depends on which name is closest to Buchanan’s on the butterfly ballot.
It’s too late. Look for President Obama in January.
I prefer Huckabee, but Romney would be a good second choice.
Not certain I could vote for someone who worked for the Commies in Vietnam.
Maybe President Jr. Or P-I-T. After he finishes orientation.
Oh. Obama meaning.
Say it’s so. Say Guiliani isn’t out of the race.
Giuliani isn’t out of the race. But really you have to give him your moneys. Fred the same. Other than Romney, it’s MONEY what’s out of this race.
Why would anyone who calls themself a conservative even consider voting for liberals like Huckabee or McAmnesty. All Fred is doing right now is keeping some conservatives from getting behind Romney and defeating Huckabee and McCain. Go Mitt!
He’s so handsome.
“I’ll listen to anybody that will tell me Giuliani still has a good chance. ”
His campaign really floundered once he cut his worker’s pay from $9.11 an hour to 0.
Gotta had it to andy; even in snark, he manages to confuse cause and effect.
Fred!
…please?
I’m no McCain fan, but Romney’s a dorkwad. Someone in another thread claimed that Romney and Thompson could beat Hillary, but McCain couldn’t. I think that’s ass-backwards.
McCain’s a more consistent conservative than anyone gives him credit for, his anti-free speech tendencies aside. Given that and the fact that he can actually win, I’m reluctantly pulling for him.
If the Democrats didn’t hold all of Congress I wouldn’t care as much, nor would it matter as much.
I’m sorry, but to me that sounds like, “Darth Vader’s a pretty decent guy, leaving aside his murdering little kids, and all.”
Oh. That may have been me. I think you’re forgetting that Romney is really handsome. Anyhoo, with Huckabee having crested his shiny vertical hill or whatever there’s really no reason to proactively support McCain at this point. You got your Rudy and you got your Thompson too, and there’s no reason to get out in front of the Straight Talk Express like that cause people have done that before and got runned over.
hf, were you hoping deep down for a Romney-Edwards matchup? Would have been without a doubt the best-looking race EVER!
Wow. Sort of a winner takes all London Fog vs. Patagonia death match.
McCain’s “anti-free speech” tendencies? Come on, who has been silenced by McCain-Feingold? You want “anti-free speech” – look at Rudy going into museums to shut down art exhibits. In reality, neither of them is anti-free speech. Maybe if we just enforce the existing slander/libel laws, there would be no call for bills like McCain-Feingold.
Harcourt – Thanks to McCain Feingold, the media has been ceded the power, especially in the last 90 days of an election, to define the players and the themes. This Moby crap you are pulling is tiring.
Harcourt also displays a total ignorance as to what the current state of libel/slander law is.
“Come on, who has been silenced by McCain-Feingold?”
I don’t hear anybody.