According to the latest Gallup poll, Rudy Giuliani has a 16-point lead over John McCain among Republicans and Republican leaners. According to the full results, the lead is 40%-24%.

Oh, and another poll says Giuliani is leading the GOP field in Texas. Texas!

Gallup says Giuliani would beat Obama in the general election (handily) and Clinton (albeit barely). Scariest number: Giuliani's favorable-unfavorable numbers among all poll respondents are 66%-22%. People think he's just swell.

Is anybody -- in the Republican Party or the Democratic Party -- planning to do anything about this?

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Rudy has the ability to dazzle people. I don't what the hell is the problem with people who can be dazzled by him, but he has the skill.

A post at The American Spectator's blog:

Having read consecutively Brendan Miniter's column in the Wall Street Journal on Rudy Giuliani, and then Cal Thomas's sharing of a message from a soldier friend in Mosul, I am left with little doubt that if the Mayor was president now, we would be kicking butt in Iraq.

And to me, as a social conservative, Giuliani comes across as more sincere than Romney when he says he will appoint "strict constructionist" judges. I don't know why; he just does.

There you go: I don't know why; he just does. The guy who wrote this is a professional Christianist wingnut, and he's just smitten. We know Rudy can dazzle moderates (Chris Matthews: "How did he get the pee smell out of that subway?"), but the ability to bewitch seems to cut across more lines than a lot of people ever expected. Be afraid. Be very afraid.