The Real Rudy Hasn't Joined the Race Yet

Rudy Giuliani holds a nice lead in the pack of GOP presidential candidates, but it's not a result of anything he's doing on the campaign trail, Peter Boyer reports in a profile in the New Yorker. The Rudy who's winning in the polls is America's Mayor, the guy who cleaned up New York and carried the ball after 9/11, the feisty father-figure for whom, as George Will described it, "pugnacity is a political philosophy."

That Rudy hasn't materialized in his own campaign appearances, where he is often tepid, unpolished, ill-prepared, and—oddly enough—appears to shrink from a good fight. He acts, Boyer notes, as if he's still on the cushy speaking tour he went on after he left office, where his only job was to show up and receive a hero's welcome. His 9/11 record remains his trump card, but he hasn't figured out how to play the rest of his political hand. (More Rudy Giuliani stories.)