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Last update - 18:10 04/01/2008 After Iowa: Is there room for both McCain and Giuliani? By Shmuel Rosner Tags: U.S. Now that McCain's position is growing stronger, it's not certain there will be room for Giuliani as well. One will have to disappear for the other to win the party's nomination. DES MOINES, Iowa - It's Wednesday night, and Hillary Clinton's face is on the TV screen. In another moment she'll say something funny; apparently she's capable of it. This was a festive evening for her, 24 hours before the Iowa caucus - but festive also for the host of the CBS Late Show. After being kept off the air by the Writers Guild strike, David Letterman is back. So he chose to open the show with a slight by Clinton: "Dave has been off the air for eight long weeks because of the writers strike," she said in a taped opening from Iowa. "Tonight, he's back. Oh, well, all good things come to an end." An end has also come to the crazy Iowa race. "'Caucus' is a Greek word," Letterman's rival Jay Leno explained on the NBC Tonight Show, "which means 'the only day anyone pays attention to Iowa.'" In any case it's time to look forward, to New Hampshire next week, and beyond. Republican candidate John McCain spent Wednesday in New Hampshire, and came here only in the afternoon, for a final campaign blitz. At 8 P.M., running very late (ice on the airport runway), he stepped out of the car into the bitter cold, and immediately entered the crowded, stuffy room where several hundred supporters were waiting with boundless patience. They already heard the flattering new poll numbers: McCain leads in New Hampshire, McCain takes national Republican lead in a new Pew Research Center poll - ahead of Rudy Giuliani, the front-runner all year. It's just by 1 percent, but it's the momentum that counts. McCain's up, Giuliani's down. Advertisement A week ago we reported here on McCain's progress, a by-product of America's relative success in Iraq in recent months. But McCain doesn't stick only to Iraq. He is the candidate insisting that the 2008 elections focus, ultimately, on foreign policy. "I know Pakistan. I know Israel," he declared. "I know these countries" - meaning the problematic ones that demand special attention. Three senators accompany McCain to the event: former presidential candidate Sam Brownback of Kansas, John Thune of South Dakota, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who tells the crowd how much world leaders respect McCain. He counts among his friends several Israelis, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak. McCain left "my favorite Democrat" back in New Hampshire to carry on the good work. The mention of Joe Lieberman of Connecticut brings cheers from the crowd here in Iowa. Two weeks ago Lieberman announced his endorsement of the Republican McCain - a pretty astonishing move for someone who ran for vice president seven years ago on the Democratic ticket alongside Al Gore (as well as the first Jew to contend for that high office). And now the rumors that nobody confirms are spreading, and have reached all the way to senior officials in Jerusalem: Lieberman may also be McCain's running mate. As McCain's candidacy picks up speed, questions abound regarding Giuliani's bid. John Podhoretz, the new editor of the neoconservative Commentary, observed this week that "the candidacies of Giuliani and McCain are one and the same - a pitch to be the president best suited to fighting the war on terror based on strong leadership skills and personal heroism." Now that McCain's position is growing stronger, it's not certain there will be room for both of them. One will have to disappear for the other to win the party's nomination. The two candidates do have different takes on the Israeli issue. McCain's is the more traditional approach to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though he recently explained that a gradual solution is preferable to trying to resolve the conflict in one go, and also said that an American victory in Iraq is a necessary precondition for a successful Israeli-Palestinian agreement. Still, McCain supports establishing a Palestinian state at the end of the process. Giuliani is more radical: he is not at all certain that a Palestinian state is in America's best interest, as he recently explained in an article for Foreign Affairs. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Finkelstein in Lebanon A vocal U.S. critic of Israel met Monday with a senior Hezbollah official. Holocaustland 2007 sees record number of visitors at Auschwitz extermination camp.   1.   Iowa Post Mortem 14:52  |  Third Rail 04/01/08   2.   Fire department NY 17:51  |  Dan Campbell 04/01/08   3.   rudy will be the next president ! 18:23  |  victor hardman 04/01/08   4.   Rosner`s Israel Factor Panel predicted the results in Iowa 19:58  |  Pablo B 04/01/08   5.   Podhoretz Couldn`t be More Wrong 20:00  |  Mark of Lewiston 04/01/08   6.   What he said!!! 20:38  |  Pablo B 04/01/08   7.   Forget Giuliani 20:56  |  William 04/01/08   8.   Good Luck 21:13  |  Denise 04/01/08   9.   no room for either 21:24  |  margaret 04/01/08   10.   #8 a voter writes and the usa follows 21:37  |  victor hardman 04/01/08   11.   After Iowa 22:30  |  Mark Jeffery Koch 04/01/08   12.   Why Victor? Because he is Black? 23:13  |  Pablo B 04/01/08   13.   McCain`s position is Strengthening 23:30  |  Arthur Stock 04/01/08   14.   I thought Israel had NOTHING to do with Iraq war? 00:45  |  Pablo B 05/01/08   15.   GIULIANI IS TOAST 03:34  |  JH 05/01/08   16.   I Want To... 06:20  |  Yosemite 05/01/08   17.   #12 partly but because he has no idea of how to run 09:32  |  victor hardman 05/01/08   18.   #11 the problem is mark ive heard it all before ! 09:38  |  victor hardman 05/01/08   19.   Obama/ Edwards Vs. The Republicans. 13:35  |  Stephen. 05/01/08   20.   Rudy Giuuliani 17:02  |  Eric Osterweil 05/01/08   21.   OF COURSE, JUST REMEMBER BUSH AT 2000 17:06  |  indrajaya 05/01/08   22.   # 19, STEPHEN 17:15  |  indrajaya 05/01/08   23.   RON PAUL = free USA from zionism 18:59  |  nobodysacred 05/01/08   24.   Why should Israel care about US politics? 19:02  |  Felix 05/01/08   25.   # 22 Indy. It·s not an American Holy War.! Dude. 19:43  |  Stephen. 05/01/08   26.   McCain Is The Man! (Sorry If I Riled Rabbis) 20:10  |  Yosemite 05/01/08   27.   Indy, If You Haven`t Noticed 21:21  |  Yosemite 05/01/08   28.   Indrajaya A Question About Extremism 21:34  |  Yosemite 05/01/08   29.   The US electorate 01:56  |  Carrie Nation 06/01/08   30.   I wrote a nice post 05:57  |  Jason_M 06/01/08   31.   17 Victor-It`s bad that Obama`s black and isn`t a corporate tool? 07:34  |  Pablo B 06/01/08   32.   guiliani 08:20  |  al 06/01/08   33.   Giuliani 10:30  |  JW 06/01/08   34.   Giuliani is a joke. 12:48  |  Devin Leonard 06/01/08   35.   McCain-Giuliani is an unbeatable formula 22:03  |  Finkelstein 06/01/08   36.   #34 23:26  |  JW 06/01/08   37.   # 28, YOSEMITE 07:36  |  indrajaya 07/01/08   38.   Rudy 02:50  |  Stewart 08/01/08   39.   Indrajaya 05:59  |  Yosemite 08/01/08   40.   # 39, YOSEMITE 08:35  |  indrajaya 08/01/08   41.   Funny Thing Indrajaya 10:42  |  Yosemite 08/01/08

Today Online U.S. prof Finkelstein meets top Hezbollah official in Lebanon Responses: 178 Amira Hass: Shin Bet versus the former Palestinian minister Responses: 9 High security for Bush visit will cost Israel $25,000 an hour Responses: 32 Israeli Arab leaders slam boycott of visiting Jewish donors Responses: 30 House hit as Israeli town under rocket attack from Lebanon Responses: 23 Rosner's Domain New Hampshire primary: Clinton feels the heat Rosner's Guest: Futurizing Judaism, redefining Zionism Ron Paul: Israel can get by without U.S. aid Biden & Dodd: Expertise in foreign policy can only take you so far Is there room for both McCain and Giuliani? More Headlines 13:09 Minister: Katyusha fire in north linked to Bush visit 11:38 Hamas says its forces traded fire with Israel Navy boats off Gaza 09:15 Israel botched chance to free abducted soldiers at start of war 13:05 Trailing in New Hampshire, Clinton feels the heat 10:12 Israeli Arab leaders slam boycott of visiting Jewish donors 12:38 Former army chief of staff Moshe Levy dies at 72 12:36 Egyptian police: Bedouin attack guards near crossing with Israel 11:51 Report: Israel agrees to release Barghouti in exchange for Shalit 08:12 Olmert and Abbas to seal deal on teams to tackle core issues 10:36 Nine wanted militants in Nablus turn themselves in to PA custody Previous Editions Select Day 07 jan 06 jan 04 jan 03 jan 02 jan 01 jan 31 dec 30 dec 28 dec 27 dec 26 dec 25 dec

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