Rudy Giuliani went toe-to-toe with Tim Russert this morning and emerged not only unscathed but the stronger for again demonstrating that in a general election showdown with either Senator Clinton or Obama, the mayor would be up to the 24/7 MSM's slash-and-burn attacks. 

Romney's turn in the ritual of the MTP hot seat is next week.

Russert's assertion that Giuliani ought to have been watching for the 9/11 attacks is the sort of MSM-assault that will eb routine, the sort of question that won't get leveled at Hillary about her husband's Administration's fecklessness throughout the '90s.  That's just the political terrain.  Tim Russert flatly asserting that Giuliani quit the 9/11 Commission to make money by giving speeches instead of asking "WHy did you quit the 9/11 Commission" is another example of how the Democratic partisans in the MSM work.  Republicans shouldn't complain about it with any expectation that retired Cuomo, Carter and Clinton aides are going to lose their embedded biases, but should vote for their nominee with that reality in mind.

It is a new thing for the GOP to look forward to high-profile one-on-ones with the Manhattan-Beltway media elites.  With Giuliani and Romney the party has a pair of extremely skilled communicators.  I can't put Huckabee in that tier yet, and today's parsing of the definition of "quarantine" with Chris Wallace suggests he isn't going to get there.  It was a good thing for Huck to drop the "almost 20 years ago" of yesterday's written statement for the precise "15 years ago" he used today.