David, I wouldn't ignore social issues, I would just say that they won't play as dominant of a role in 2008. Yes, social issues will still be very important, but they will just be relatively less important than they have been in the past. For all the praise that is heaped on Mitt Romney (his boosters call him brilliant, attractive, charismatic, a business man, a problem solver, a good guy) I haven't seen many people praise him on the basis of his capabilities as a wartime leader. To me, his lack of credentials on terrorism and national security should be seen as a huge liability, one that cannot easily be made up by simply saying the right things. Yes, he may now be on the right side of the abortion issue, but his total about-face on the issue once his political ambitions moved beyond the state of Massachusetts just makes me think of him as a typical flip-flopping politician, which in my view, further undermines his credibility as a wartime leader.  

I'm not saying that Giuliani will have an easy path to the nomination, but what I don't understand is how people are writing off his chances despite the fact that he is the best positioned on the most important issue of our time.

And that brings me to another observation. I don't think I can ever recall more debate, and more written, about how a candidate has no shot of winning than the case of Rudy Giuliani. If his candidacy is truly that hopeless, why all of the fuss?