The 2008 Presidential Race's best candidate was gunned down in Florida last night. Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani was not a victim of a stray bullet fired by one of his many co-candidates or even by the so-called drive-by media. Rather, Hizzoner was the victim of his own gun.  In effect, as a result of a lazy, pick-and-choose primary state campaigning strategy, Rudy's own index finger pulled the trigger.

Giuliani's common sense stances on debating team topics that are un-referenced in our Constitution (abortion, alien rights, same-sex marriage, etc.) had not suffered anywhere near the predicted conservative backlash. Likewise, Rudy and his team were doing a remarkable job of minimizing personal and character attacks stemming from earlier marital issues.

Talk of the alleged corruption of at least one prominent mayoral appointee who later became a Giuliani business partner was also minimal. Even a vicious attack by the New York City firefighters union, insisting that the mayor's administration committed egregious errors in preparing FDNY for a tragedy like September 11, 2001, were skillfully downplayed by Giuliani in debates and interviews.

That the New York Times renewed its long-standing vendetta against the mayor with a recent endorsement of John McCain was a wake-up call for multi-factional conservatives — a warning that our failure to stand behind the most overall conservative candidate in the field will surely result in a RINO or an avowed liberal being elected. Such a left-handed "endorsement" from one of the world’s most respected left-wing newspapers would have made a great addition to the conservative talking points of Rudy’s campaign.

But, as another New York icon once said: “It's like deja vu all over again.”

In September 1999, Mayor Giuliani put together a campaign for New York’s open senate seat with a sizeable war chest — including a dig-deep contribution from this renegade scribe — and won the endorsement of both the state’s Republican Party and Conservative parties.

At the time 9/11 was no more than a cryptic Nostradamus quatrain.  But even in the absence of the heroic record of his conduct on that sad day conservatives throughout the State of New York had no problem jumping on Rudy's bandwagon.

Giuliani was already admired for his fiscal conservatism and law-and-order track record.  As mayor he put the shine back on the the Big Apple and turned its books around in the process. Prior to serving as America’s Mayor it was Rudy, in his role as US Attorney, who prosecuted and imprisoned organized crime bigwigs like John Gotti.

Giuliani’s expected opponent in the senatorial race would undoubtedly be the former first lady with the Louis Vuitton carpetbag full of pants suits. It would have been close but, if nothing else, it would have sucked most, if not all of the residual hot air from the Clinton family balloon. However, Mayor Giuliani was suddenly forced to quit the race to pursue urgent treatment for prostate cancer.

Second-time supporters — we again dug deep to be among Rudy’s first presidential campaign contributors — reckoned that the healthy, feisty ex-mayor would fight tooth and nail this time around to make up for his short-lived run for the US Senate.

Not merely because of the importance of preventing future 9/11’s but because the aspiring interloper who used our Senate seat purely as a stepping stone was running again and she appeared destined to end up in the Oval Office in the absence of compelling competition from within her own party.

Sadly, today, even the mayor's un-conservative position on gun control has been proven correct:  You can't shoot yourself with your own gun if you're not allowed to have a gun.

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