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Sorry I'm so long in responding to your article.

Our salient disagreement is here:

"But this is the simple, real world truth; the Republican Party consists of more than just the bedrock conservatives – even if they were monolithic, which they are not."

That is absolutely true--but the Republican primary consists of a MAJORITY of bedrock conservatives. The CPAC I feel represents those primary voters. As a religious conservative I will not vote for Mr. Guiliani in the primary and I feel he will NOT get 51% of the primary vote.

He might win the nomination with less than 51% of the primary vote, through a brokered convention. But I expect the conservative vote to coalesce around one candidate and I expect that candidate to be Mitt Romney.

"And the 51% that it takes to win a national election consists of more than just the Republican Party."

Again true, but not relevant for the primary. You make a good argument people should vote for whom they think will win the national. But just because Guiliani can win (according to the polls at the moment) doesn't mean another candidate can't win, nor does it mean that Guiliani will win. We ought to vote in the primary for the candidate we think will be the best President. As much as I like Mr. Duncan Hunter, I feel a Presidential candidate MUST have executive experience, so I feel he must be a Governor.

Interestingly, although I differ with Rudy on abortion, I think running the nation's largest city of 7 million is equivalent to running a state, so Rudy qualifies on this score. But abortion is an absolute moral question and any person who supports abortion is morally unqualified to be President in my opinion. So I cannot vote for Rudy in the primary.

In the general election, should Rudy become the Republican candidate, the question then becomes, which President will do the least harm to the nation. Against Hilliary, this will be an easy choice--Rudy.