Giuliani's "concession" was a bit off-key -- it was _exactly_ the speech he would have made to drop out. Talked about his campaign in the past tense, thanked his top staffers by name, laid out the expansive agenda he thinks his party needs to follow in the coming decade to win its way back into power. (It was advice to his party as an elder statesman, not his agenda for governing as president.)

So assuming he does drop out more formally than his surrender speech tonight, all the Republican candidates who really frighten me as potential presidents are gone. First time in a long time that GOP primary voters have eliminated all of my most-disliked Republican candidates. Well done, Republican voters.

I think he's a pretty good retail campaigner. That's why it was idiotic for him to skip the early states. All he had to do was stay in the top 3 in the early states and he'd have a ticket forward right now!

So long, Rudy.  You won't be missed.

Neil

Now, if we can get the Senator from Illinois up against the Senator from Arizona, and somehow inoculate them both with some sort of anti-bullshit serum that will bring out what we have seen to be the best in each of them while protecting them against the temptations of the most partisan asps in either's party (perhaps--a chance meeting between just the two of them in a Senate hallway, a gentlemen's agreement, a handshake and unwavering look into each other's eyes), and they can have not just a series of debates with each other but a series of conversations, an ongoing intelligent, respectful discussion as it were, which not only we but much of the entire world would get to experience, in which case not just the U.S. electorate but also those around the world who have turned their backs on us in disgust might actually stop in their tracks, turn back around, listen intently, and consider for the first time in memory making that leap of faith concerning our little experiment in governance that has inspired and fortified people the world over for decades...I mean....geez, I gotta sit down here, I-I'm feeling a little light-headed...

williamyard - a chance meeting, a long deep look into each other's eyes ... wait, is Larry Craig running?!

Last night felt like Christmas and my birthday combined. Rudy is gone and Romney was beaten. I am halfway to my dream matchup of McCain vs. Obama.

Happens to the best of, Mike. UHAYP -- cringe.

At least I got McCain's rise correct.

Great idea, Bill. A conversation streamed over the web, with an intelligent moderator to call BS when necessary and pour the single malt when requested.

Idle thought: is the rise of both Obama and McCain in any way related to the diminished role / influence on the voters of media bloviators of both left and right that we've seen in this campaign? Ideology doesn't explain their rise-- McCain and not Romney is getting voters who are concerned about the economy; Obama not HRC or Edwards is getting liberal Dem voters. Maybe it's the case that voters are actually hearing the candidates and... making up their own minds?

Dizzying indeed.