Editor's note.  Please send your comments to daveandrusko@hotmail.com

Good day after Christmas. I trust yours was a spiritually blessed and emotionally nurturing December 25.

Can you believe it? Less than a week until the new year rolls in, followed a few days later by the endlessly-discussed Iowa caucuses.

We'll do our best to write periodically about the impending clash in the nation's first caucus in a way that is useful. Let's start the stretch run today.

I read as many of the news stories and bloggers as I can possibly squeeze in. More importantly I try to keep tabs with people who live in Iowa who've long been involved in local politics. What do we know ten days from the Iowa caucus?

For starters, there are polls upon polls, all purporting to answer the famous question, "Who's ahead?" Depending on who you read or whose on-the-ground calculation you value most, you can say is that any of the three major Democrats--Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, or former Sen. John Edwards--might prevail. All are pro-abortion.

At this point in time, former Governors Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney seem to be ahead in Iowa. The battle for third place has been  intense between NRLC-endorsed former Sen. Fred Thompson and Sen. John McCain with indications that Sen. Thompson's current Iowa tour may be successfully pushing him forward.

A story that is bubbling to the surface with enormous significance is the gradual unraveling of the candidacy of pro-abortion New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. My motto is always to never say never, so surely it is too early to count him out. But….

There are so many controversies swirling around Giuliani it's like being in a wind tunnel. Like Sen. Clinton, the logic of Giuliani's campaign is that he is ahead/the best suited to defeat the other party's nominee, so why not go with a winner?

Talk about circular reasoning! If ever enough people ever broke the hypnotic spell, it would become obvious that both Clinton and Giuliani are deeply flawed candidates. Again, this is not to say they cannot eventually become their respective party's presidential nominee. But it is to remind us not be browbeaten into thinking that there is some inevitable tide sweeping Giuliani to the nomination.

He is taking a colossal risk, which many of the so-called "experts" dismissed in the rush to anoint him the GOP presidential nominee. Giuliani is largely ignoring Iowa and New Hampshire, banking on a victory somewhere down the pike (presumably in Florida on January 29) that will catapult him forward on February 5 when 22 states have their contests--essentially a mini-national primary.

But as the wheels start to come off, Giuliani's gigantic personal weaknesses and issue-incompatibility with much of the Republican Party's base becomes more and more apparent.

Stay tuned. It can only get more interesting.

Please send your comments to Dave Andrusko at daveandrusko@hotmail.com.

Part Two