Rudy wins the pundit primary: conservative journalists choose up.(2008)(Rudy Giuliani)

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RUDOLPH GIULIANI may not win New Hampshire, but he has already won the pundit primary. It's not even close. Quite a few conservative journalists are in Giuliani's corner. His rivals have no similar support.

The Giuliani bandwagon includes conservative commentator John Podhoretz, New York Post columnist Ryan Sager, American Spectator reporters Philip Klein and Jennifer Rubin, and the editors of the New York Sun. Several writers affiliated with NR or NATIONALREVIEWONLINE are also on board. David Frum and David Pryce-Jones are formally affiliated with the Giuliani campaign. Richard Brookhiser has endorsed the former mayor's run, as has Lisa Schiffren. Deroy Murdock regularly turns out supportive commentary. George Will has not turned his column into a platform for Giuliani, but the mayor has not missed an opportunity to repeat Will's comment that he was the most successful conservative executive of the last fifty years.

The other Republican candidates can count their supporters in the commentariat on one hand, or even two fingers. Mitt Romney has the support of Hugh Hewitt, but Hewitt is more of a talk-show host than an opinion journalist (although the categories of course overlap). NRO's editor, Kathryn Jean Lopez, provided Romney a lot of favorable coverage in 2006, but in recent months has taken a more neutral view of the candidates. Fred Thompson generally gets sympathetic treatment from The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes, but Hayes is a reporter rather than an advocate. That magazine's editor, William Kristol, has tilted toward Thompson only slightly. His support has consisted of little more than talking up Thompson's chances. Fred Barnes, meanwhile, has endorsed McCain (as have I).

Geography accounts for some of the lopsided support for Giuliani. There aren't a lot of conservatives in New York City, but a disproportionate share of conservative writers live in New York--and almost all of them support Giuliani. They are grateful to him for saving the city. During his mayoralty they grew to admire his strengths and discount his weaknesses.

Giuliani was also very close to the Manhattan Institute; no other candidate has had as tight a connection to a conservative think tank. It stands to reason that he would have more support among conservative intellectuals, including writers, as a result of that connection.

Brookhiser and Murdock are two Giuliani backers who are also pro-lifers. But it is Giuliani's support for keeping abortion legal that has increased his appeal to other pundits. Sager hopes that Giuliani will reduce what he regards as the baleful influence of social conservatives on the Republican party. (Sager has written a book that argues that religious conservatives are narrowing the party's appeal.) One can surmise that some of the other Giuliani pundits want to see Republicans and conservatives downplay abortion, but do not want to take on pro-lifers frontally. Because Giuliani is not running an abortion-centric candidacy, as previous pro-choice Republican presidential aspirants have, they can endorse him without explicitly slighting pro-lifers.