Rudy's in

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!

Rudy Giuliani, a moderate Republican best known for his stewardship of the city after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has taken the first step in a 2008 presidential bid, GOP officials said Monday. The former mayor filed papers to create the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee, Inc., creating a panel that would allow him to raise money for a White House run and travel the country.

And for those who share my concerns: Rudy on judges.

Update: check out this post discussing "What would Rudy have to do to be a viable candidate in '08?" Meanwhile, the concern at RedState is over his views on amnesty. SF's editors are rather divided on this point, but for our purposes in this post, I think that, contra Amy Sullivan (as Althouse says in the divalog, it's going to be water under the bridge), there's a better than even chance that two years hence, it isn't going to matter a whole bunch what anyone's views on amnesty were, since the Democrats will have rammed an amnesty bill (or whatever we want to call it) through Congress with the active support of the White House.

Update II: Talkleft's Jeralyn Merritt is skeptical, linking back to a post of hers from August '04.

Update III: Chris Cillizza says that, unlike McCain and Dem Tom Vilsack "who will file their exploratory committees with the Federal Election Commission, Giuliani chose to file his organization with New York's Secretary of State." Why? Chris suggests that the result will be "that Giuliani will not be required to disclose any of his donations or expenditures through the state registered not-for-profit ... With the state-based organization he would not be able to accept any donations over the federal limits ... but would be able to transfer any money he raises into a federal presidential account."