I doubt Rush wants Rudy to win.
Rudy causes huge heartburn to prolifers. In some ways, he’s a flawed candidate just like Huckabee is, just like McCain is. They have some good positions, but they also have things that just go too far against what the Reagan coalition stands for.
We can keep the coalition together, but only if we stick to either Romney or Thompson. Rudy, McCain and Huckabee are too much at odds with the party on key issues.
Assuming, arguendo, Rudy is the nominee, the question becomes do the moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats he attracts at the margin outweigh the Conservative Republicans he blows away? I do not know the answer to that now, but that’s the problem with Rudy.
You are forgetting about the Second Amendment, which I think is even bigger...