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Rudy Giuliani is not doing that. If he were, this entire thread would be in support of Rudy. The party needs a candidate that is a healer.

Back up a moment - the figures you're describing about the Republican decline have very little to do with Rudy, who is not even a declared candidate yet. Perhaps it has something more to do with the drip feed of poison from the media, and secondly, the Republicans inability to play media hardball when required?

Secondly, if one reads through this thread and others, the way it looks to the occasional voter, the bloke who doesn't take an active interest in politics, is frankly bonkers. That fellow is not going to understand exclamatory little denunciations of Rudy's gun position in the name of Conservatism. He'll think you're holed up in Montana somewhere loaded up on hardtack and cider, ready to shoot the FBI. Conservatism has a great message of individual liberty to offer - a true "Morning in America" message. Unless we tap into that quality of Reagan, into Reagan's spirit, conservatism is going to have a long climb out.

Let's be honest - the bench at the moment is not particularly good: there are not enough Republican governors, many of those that are there are new. There's not enough fresh blood in the Senate. Giuliani looks attractive out of a field that is fairly weak.

Ivan

"there are not enough Republican governors"

Governors may be the key to this mess. Every President from Lyndon Johnson to GW Bush has either served as Vice-President, or been a governor. Governorships have supplied the majority of US Presidents. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and GW Bush served as governors. Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George Bush had their apprenticeship as Vice-Presidents.

With Dick Cheney out of the fray, the Republican Party is in a position not too dissimilar to 1952 when Eisenhower was drafted as the party standard bearer, despite the strong party apparatus of Taft. It is also somewhat similar to 1968 when the dark horse Nixon, coming off two consecutive election defeats, drove through the front runners for the nomination.

Don't be surprised if all the current Republican candidates are set aside for a unity candidate, and don't be surprised if it is a current of former governor. I'm scratching my head at the moment, but I don't recall a single President making the jump from city mayor without some higher office in between.