Is Rudy In for '08?

Bob Novak seems to think so:

Well-connected public figures report that they have been told recently by Rudolph Giuliani that, as of now, he intends to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

The former mayor of New York was on top of last month's national Gallup poll measuring presidential preferences by registered Republicans, with 29 percent. Sen. John McCain's 24 percent was second, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich third at 8 percent. National polls all year have shown Giuliani running either first or second to McCain, with the rest of the presidential possibilities far behind.

Republican insiders respond to these numbers by saying rank-and-file GOP voters will abandon Giuliani once they realize his position on abortion, gay rights and gun control. Party strategists calculate that if he actually runs, he must change on at least one of these issues.

Rudy's a very attractive candidate when it comes to leadership issues, but on the social issues he's going to have a problem with many conservatives, and I'm not sure he can fix that without abandoning long held positions. Should he do that, how would conservatives react to a candidate who's positions on important social issues appears to be rather fluid and who appears to be changing for the purpose of appealing to them? And would he govern based on the new positions or the old ones? Hard to say, and that makes him a bit of a wildcard.