It's the war, stupid

Mark Davis on why Guiliani or McCain can get the GOP nomination for '08.

The bottom line: it used to be a given that candidates deemed too liberal on some social issues could not compete for the Republican nomination.

9/11 truly did change everything. Now they can, if their war credentials are strong enough. And in McCain and Giuliani, the GOP may have its most able aspirants by far in the race to see who gets the reins in the war on terror in January 2009.