There was nothing particularly terrible about what Giuliani wrote in this piece. It was the bland work of a politician who doesn't want to say anything controversial, perhaps learning from Barack Obama's fubar over Pakistan.

There aren't many votes in foreign policy anyway, people generally care more about the economy. The only serious foreign threat to growth relates to oil supplies, and Iran's chances of disrupting them.

Well, folks better start caring about foreign policy. It is Dubya's completely inept and disastrous foreign policy (or complete lack thereof) that has Iraq and the Middle East in the current mess that it is. And, as is evidenced by the recent and on-going downturn in global financial markets the U.S. economy has direct affect on all global regions. Foreign policy and world economies are all inextriably intertwined today. When all of this hits Americans in the pocket book things will look different.

Your rather flippant response that all we have to worry about is oil from the Middle East is rather simplistic and short sighted. No doubt that disruption of oil from the ME would cause serious repercussions, but the overall effect of this administration's bad foreign policy will have far-reaching negative impacts (both politically and economically) for years to come.

Actually, disruption of oil from the ME might be a blessing in disguise. Our country would actually have to start conserving energy and seriously look at alternative energy sources, not to mention weaning ourselves off gas-guzzling SUVs.

Besides, Guiliani is just a one-trick pony, his entire campaign being based on his response to 9/11, and now even that is coming under scrutiny. He has nothing else to offer.

Usually there are few votes on foreign policy. Check any opinion poll and you'll see that Americans right now consider Iraq the No.1 or No.2 issue of the day. This election will be much more influenced by foreign policy than usual.

Its going to come down to whether or not people think Bush's ideas were good or not, even if they execution was fumbled. Guliani is casting himself as Bush + competency (personally I'm not convinced on his competence, but whatever, I'm not voting for him). All the democrats are doing everything they can to be anti-Bush. So in terms of foreign policy, which will have a significant impact on the election, its a question of whether or not you think Bush has done the right things in the wrong way, or just done the wrong things.

Personally, I don't see much of a question there. But most of America is more influenced by impressions than facts.

Greenwich, foreign policy may typically loom large in elections, but I think this time it's Issue Number One. Mind you, even with the blips in the stock market and the lending crunch, the economy is for the most part pretty solid. 5% unemployment for instance is pretty much total employment.

This entire election is about foreign policy and particularly Iraq policy. Not Iraq War policy, because it's pretty clear whoever gets in will simply have to withdraw. The question will be how, and how will they engage our enemies.