Rudy Giuliani in Time Magazine

A feature piece appeared a few days back on Rudy Giuliani in Time Magazine. It's a good profile piece, and takes us through the specific stances Giuliani has on some issues which might limit his support from social conservatives in the GOP.

Rudy Giuliani trots out a joke when people ask how someone like him - a thrice married New Yorker who supports gun control, abortion rights and gay rights and who shared an apartment during his second divorce with a couple of gay guys and a Shih Tzu named Bonnie-could possibly win the Republican presidential nomination. "Of course there are disagreements," he'll say. "You never agree with any one candidate 100%. I don't agree with myself 100%."

It's not much of a joke, but then Giuliani's predicament is no laughing matter. The former New York City mayor is at or near the top of the national polls, thanks to a heroic image forged in the fires of 9/11 (he was TIME's Person of the Year for 2001). And with John McCain's call for a supersurge in Iraq putting the Arizona Senator out of step with public opinion, the ground may be shifting toward Giuliani, who supports the Bush surge yet also sends the vague signal that "we've got to get beyond Iraq." The problem is, most Republican voters have no idea where Giuliani stands on social issues--and the conventional wisdom holds that once they find out, his candidacy will die. "It's one of those oddities," says a senior Giuliani adviser. "We're ahead in the polls, but we 'can't win.' Hey, we don't mind being the underdog."

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