SUCKING UP TO RUDY FOR YEARS PAYS OFF FOR NEWT, A LITTLE

Well, this is helpful to Newt Gingrich, I suppose:

When it comes down to the battle between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, former New York mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said Monday he thought Gingrich might have an edge.

Speaking to CNN's Piers Morgan, Giuliani said the former House speaker's appeal to a wide array of voters would help him, as opposed to potential problems Romney may have in relating to average Americans.

"My gut tells me right now as I look at it that Gingrich might actually be the stronger candidate, because I think he can make a broader connection than Mitt Romney to those Reagan Democrats," Giuliani said on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight."

He continued, "You won't have this barrier of possible elitism that I think Obama could exploit pretty effectively." ...

Then again, Gingrich has worked really hard for this: he's been sucking up to Giuliani for more than a decade -- even preceding the time when Giuliani became Rudy 9/11.

April 1998:

Mayor Giuliani has an unexpected ally as he tries to go national: House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

GOPAC, the controversial Republican political action committee guided by Gingrich, has produced an audio tape of a Giuliani speech and sent 40,000 copies to Republicans nationwide.

In "Real Solutions to Old Problems: Removing Drugs from Our Neighborhoods and Schools," the mayor outlines his anti-drug strategy. The tape is one of eight GOPAC produces each year to spread new Republican ideas.

In case the 40,000 copies aren't enough, printing on the cassette advises, "Copy this tape and share it with your family and friends."

September 2005:

One prominent Republican, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, criticized the Bush administration for being sluggish, and urged the president to name Giuliani as the White House point person for [Hurricane Katrina] relief efforts.

"We need to get the job done now, and I don't think anybody is better prepared to do that psychologically and otherwise than Rudy Giuliani," Gingrich said.

June 2007:

Gingrich: Immigration Hurts McCain More Than Abortion Hurts Giuliani Among GOP Voters

..."Sen. McCain carries both the burden of McCain-Feingold and now the burden of the McCain-Kennedy bill," said Gingrich in a question and answer session following a Friday speech to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. "And I think, in a sense ... if you were handicapping, he has the greatest challenge in a Republican primary in explaining those positions."

Giuliani didn't quite endorse Gingrich, so maybe Newt has to suck up a bit more. But it's a start.

And yeah, I think it helps Newt -- even the evangelicals love Rudy and wish he weren't allied with Satan on abortion and gays. And given the way this year';s two front-runners have shamelessly repositioned themselves on a host of issues, Giuliani ought to be kicking himself for not declaring himself anti-choice and anti-gay just before he joined the 2008 race.