Moving on Up

Friday the National Journal moved Rudy Giuliani up to the number one spot, surpassing Sen. McCain as their GOP frontrunner. They are now willing to accept that "the early predictions of his doom were overstated." This just adds to the mounting evidence that Rudy is on his way, despite starting later then most and having little wide spread national organization. Marc Ambinder and Chuck Todd , the creators of the list commented:

There are three distinct camps among those Republicans who don't think Giuliani will win the nomination: the McCain camp, the Huckabee camp and the Arlington camp. The McCain camp believes questions about Giuliani's business practices and his personal character will disqualify him, and that his liberal positions on issues will be the coup de grace. The MSM is mostly in this camp. The Huckabee camp believes Giuliani is objectively too liberal to be the nominee and will not vote for him. The Arlington camp doesn't know whether Giuliani will be elected but worries -- for the sake of its organizations' bottom lines -- how a social liberal would affect the power and influence of organized conservative interests. If the election were held tomorrow, Giuliani would win. He doesn't have McCain's organizational strength, money, or endorsements, but he has a solid and growing lead in national polls. And so far, he's repelled some fairly devastating attacks (like the notion that he does not speak to his son).

They also estimate his fundraising projection to be $15 million behind both John McCain (20 million) and Mitt Romney (25 million). Still Rudy is gaining traction even in that arena with many "big donors" catching a ride on the Rudy bangwagon, including Richard Blackenship who switch just this week from the Romney camp.