The New York Times has an excellent piece on how Rudy Giuliani is benefitting from the squabbling between John McCain and Mitt Romney.  While his lead over the rest of the Republican field seems to have dropped, Giuliani remains the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination with 8 months before voting begins.

As I have indicated several times, a main attraction of the Giuliani candidacy is the former New York Mayor’s ability to put states like CT, NJ, and NY into play.  According to a new Quinnipiac Poll, Giuliani beats Hillary Clinton in Connecticut by 6 points - 48%-42%.  This compares with a Clinton lead of 2 points in the previous poll. 

The Democrats can nominate whomever they like, but it gets hard to see how a Democrat can win the White House if they must spend their time trying to win Connecticut and New Jersey. 

According to a new Siena Poll in New York, Rudy Giuliani has cut Hillary Clinton’s lead in New York from 12 points last month to 5 points today. 

This comes on the heels of another Quinnipiac Poll in New Jersey showing the former New York City mayor taking that state’s 15 electoral votes out of the Democratic column by a 49% to 40% margin. 

The logic of a Giuliani candidacy cannot be more compelling.  His ability to win New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania alone merit his winning the nomination.  Without those three states, a Democratic candidate CANNOT win.

In the Pennsylvania Republican primary, a new Strategic Vision poll reports that Rudy Giuliani leads the Republican field by a wide margin. Indeed, Giuliani leads John McCain, his nearest competitor, by 25 points.  With some in the Pennsylvania legislature trying to move the primary up to February 5th, this poll bodes extremely well for Giuliani.  Indeed, if he can count on the delegates from New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, it permits him to focus his attention on crucial California, Florida, and Texas.