RUDY GIULIANI IN SOUTH CAROLINA: Ryan Sager reports:

Addressing roughly 75 supporters of Republican congressional candidate Ralph Norman — a business-oriented, conservative state representative running to unseat a Democratic incumbent — Mr. Giuliani gave an instructive preview of how he might try to sell himself to skeptical Southern primary voters.

The 2000 election, Mr. Giuliani said, had taught him just how important politics really is. While the election had seemed a relatively frivolous one at the time, suddenly — on September 11, 2001 — it mattered a great deal who was in the White House. “Sometimes, elections are more important than we realize when we’re in them,” he said.

While he tied that argument to the 2006 midterm elections, the real message was clear: The coming presidential election isn’t about the Confederate flag, it’s not about Roe v. Wade, it’s not about whether New York’s former mayor has had some marital troubles — it’s about who will lead America in the War on Terror. Some conservatives might not see eye-to-eye with this Blue-stater on social issues, but this is a new world we live in.

Read the whole thing. (Link was wrong at first; fixed now. Sorry!)

UPDATE: Kaus has more thoughts.