"Rudy might produce a coattail effect in some New England races."
Maybe, maybe not. I remember how CT Republicans were extatic that Lamont won the Dem nomination and that Lieberman woulkd run as an Independent, since it would "bring out Independents that will vote for Republican House candidates" and "Democrat House candidates will have the ultraliberal Lamont weighing them down." What happened? Lieberman attracted the voters one would have expected him to attract---liberals---and Lamont attracted the moonbats, and these voters that were mobilized by Lieberman and Lamont voted for the Democrat House candidates and caused two of our three Representatives to lose. All along I had said that our best bet was for Lieberman to win the Dem nomination so that the moonbats would stay home in November, and I think I was right.
If a liberal Republican wins the presidential nomination, every New England conservatives that stays home in November (because he or she would have no reason to go out and vote) is one less vote for the GOP congressional candidates. Will the fact that Rudy can get some New England liberals to vote for him mean that they will also vote for GOP congressional candidates? I wouldn't bet on it.