Yellow-dog Republican Hugh Hewitt attends a meeting of Republican women and -- sometime after the group is "entertained by the local home-schooling association's girls' choir" -- learns that the ladies' favorite candidate for president four years from now is Rudy Giuliani.

Among the many praises that gushed forth: decisive, experienced, loyal to "W"--an interesting positive, that--funny and, crucially, tough enough to take on the Clintons. There were many praises for Senator Frist, and some for John McCain, but Giuliani has their hearts--already.


I've been warning you about Rudy. I'm warning you again.

I don't know if we can beat this guy in '08. Other Republicans can beat him in the primaries, by stressing his positions on abortion, gays, and guns (assuming he doesn't change them all by then), and circumstances can beat him -- Bush could screw up so badly in the next four years that even obtuse Bush '04 voters reject the GOP in November, Rudy's ex-flunky Bernard Kerik could screw up badly at Homeland Security and taint his ex-boss, cancer could return to Giuliani's life in a serious way -- but I don't think we have a strategy to beat him.