Giuliani-Romney Brawl Could Elevate Thompson

The Republican presidential race has reached a boiling point. The top two contenders, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, have tussled over who has the better record on taxes.

Giuliani and Romney removed their gloves during the debate in Michigan and started landing blows in the aftermath. But the winner coming out of this conflict could be the guy who hasn't been hit at all -- Fred Thompson.

The Romney camp's apparent strategy is to turn this into a two-person race. On Tuesday, I touched on the Giuliani/Romney debate battle.

Romney is attacking Giuliani on two fronts: taxes and the line-item veto. He first jabs at Giuliani for endorsing a tax increase on commuters coming into New York City that left them $360 million poorer. Romney's researchers dug up a quote from a May 1999 story from The New York Times: "Earlier today, Mr. Giuliani assailed the Legislature for seeking to end the commuter tax, saying that if anything, it should be higher." This counters Giuliani's proclaimed record of 23 tax cuts.

But Romney's best line of attack is the line-item veto, which Romney used more than 800 times in four years as governor. Giuliani led the fight to defeat it all the way to the Supreme Court. Romney's team points out that Giuliani didn't beat President Bill Clinton, but Speaker Newt Gingrich and a horde of fiscal conservatives who had worked hard to pass it in Congress. Gingrich was proud to announce the bill's passage on Ronald Reagan's 84th birthday. It's always good to be on Reagan's side in the GOP.