Rudy-Condi '08?

Two of the most frequently mentioned names as candidates for president in 2008 are making waves. First, Rudy Giuliani in the New York Post (Hat tip: Instapundit):

A small gathering in Mid town yesterday got a sneak peek at Rudy Giuliani's formula as he gears up for a likely 2008 presidential run. That formula: one-third leadership, one-third technocratic centrist and one-third radical conservative reformer.

There's a reason Giuliani outpolls Sen. John McCain regularly when it comes to who conservative Republicans prefer for the presidency - while also maintaining great popularity with centrists - and it was on full display in this Manhattan Institute-hosted talk on energy policy. (For the record, the ex-mayor's firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, does significant work for energy companies.)

His message is one people yearn to hear from political leaders -- common-sense talk about real issues:

Drawing on his experience managing New York City's power problems, Giuliani spoke of the government red tape that makes it virtually impossible to build power plants, oil refineries and (especially) nuclear-power facilities.

Summing up U.S. energy policy since the 1970s, he was blunt: "We haven't done anything." We haven't drilled in Alaska. We haven't built oil refineries. We haven't ordered a nuclear power plant since 1978. ...

Without deflecting the loaded premise of the question (no announcement yet, folks), the former mayor launched into an impassioned brief for school choice. "A president has to know the role" of the federal government, he said. "It's more of a leadership role." But as that leader, he would emphasize, "choice and vouchers."

As mayor, he said, he thought he could do for the schools what he did for the police department and other city agencies. But he learned he was wrong. The education bureaucracy and the teachers unions were too deeply entrenched. What's needed, he said, "is to go to a choice system and break up the monopoly."

Even if they believe it, "most Democrats can't say to you what I just said," he told the crowd. "They're not allowed to."

And need we mention Rudy's stance on gay equal rights?

But Giuliani's sympathies have been no secret. During his administration, gays and lesbians in New York pressed for domestic-partnership rights. Giuliani in turn pushed the city's Democratic-controlled City Council, which had avoided the issue for years, to finally pass legislation providing broad protection for same-sex partners. In 1998, he codified local law by granting all city employees equal benefits for their domestic partners. Giuliani also had gays and lesbians serve openly in his administration, and when he divorced from his wife in 2000, he moved temporarily into the apartment of a wealthy gay couple.

Whether he can survive a Republican primary where the turnout is conservative is yet to be known. I disagree with some of his positions, but compared to free-speech hating John McCain, I may overlook The Mayor's stances on gun rights and abortion.

Meanwhile, a potential running mate, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice danced around the gay marriage question when asked. Instead of stating a position, she took the Laura Bush approach:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday urged "respect" and "sensitivity" in the debate over same-sex marriage, but ducked a question about her own views on the question.

"This is an issue that can be debated and can be discussed in our country with respect for every human being," Rice told a newspaper interviewer.

"When we get into difficult debates about social policy, we get into difficult debates that touch people's lives; the only thing that I ask is that Americans do it with a kind of sensitivity that real individuals and real human beings are involved here," Rice said.

Now, typically, we would yawn at this response. First, protocol doesn't allow her to comment on most domestic policies, since her duties are in the foreign affairs arena. One expects her to take a pass. But considering this question came after an address to the Southern Baptist Convention, sometimes what you don't say means as much as what you do.

Rudi-Condi '08? I could punch that ticket.