Oh, defeating the Dems in 2008 is going to be very difficult for any GOP nominee.
However, I can tell you a strategy that history has shown cannot work.
Run so far left that a sizeable third-party movement forms. And give no reason for anyone to cross party lines for you.
Rudy will not be able to hold the party together. And he will give no reason for pro-life and pro-gun Dems to cross over. And he will have little luck attracting independents and Dems as a pro-war candidate, since the Iraq War is becoming more unpopular in that segment with each passing day.
I am not so arrogant as to know what can win. But it should be blindingly obvious that Rudy can't win.
I recall similar rhetoric about the nomination of Bill Clinton by the left.