Welcome to the Freak Show, Mr. Mayor

Rudy Giuliani is actually running for President. We've been in the Rudy will run camp for sometime but the very real prospect that he wouldn't run was always in the back of our mind. That was especially true here in Iowa, where Rudy has no staff that we have confirmed, as compared to the well oiled, well organized Romney and McCain machines. But that is all in the past; the future for Rudy is what will likely be a rude(y) welcome to the jungle, or as Mark Halperin would call it, the Freak Show.

While Krusty hit hizzoner with kid gloves this morning, others will not be treating him as kindly. Rudy has a lot of things going for his campaign: the catchy America's mayor tag, some, friends at Fox News, and real credibility as a leader thanks to his magnificent work during and after the largest attack on U.S. soil. All of that is great. But if he thinks all the interviews he has in the coming weeks are going to be like the Hannity t-ball fest last night, he has another thing coming.

Rudy has a slew of quotes that align him with the things that draw intense ire from the conservative base: partial birth abortion, gun control, civil unions, amnesty, Bill Clinton, anti-Reagan. The list goes on and on. The encylopedia of quotes Rudy has made defending these liberal issues dwarfs the research on Romney and McCain combined. And we haven't even touched personal issues like the above picture, the extremely dirty Bernard Kerik etc...

So while the Boston Globe-Worker has been doing everything in its power to derail the Romney campaign and the talk-show radio machine has done the same to McCain, Rudy has been cloaked under the "I may not run" shelter. No more. And if you think the Globe-Worker is tough to deal with, wait until the New York tabloids get an excuse to rehash Rudy's messy divorce. It will be ugly.

So, Mr. Mayor, let us at the Cooler officially welcome you to the race. As Dick Morris pointed out yesterday, you are arguably the favorite if not the co-favorite. You have a New York and California fundraising base, great poll numbers, and an unmatched aura amongst Republican contenders. The question you now face is, can you handle the freaks?

Update: We have heard grumblings that Rudy has at least 1 political staffer on board in Iowa, but given our track-record there, we're going to wait to post any names until it's super dooper confirmed.