***for the real long-term battlefield in the mosques and madrassas of Pakistan and Indonesia and western Europe.

The Clintons are nothing if not lucky, and Hillary must occasionally be enjoying a luxury-length cackle at the thought of being pitted against a 71-year-old "maverick" whose record seems designed to antagonise just enough of the base into staying home on election day.

In the 2000 campaign season, running in a desultory fashion for the New York Senate seat, Giuliani waged a brief, half-hearted campaign just long enough to leave the Republican Party with no one to run against Hillary Clinton except a candidate who wasn't up to the job. [The Republicans chose lesser-known Congressman Rick Lazio to replace him]

Has he managed to do the same this time round?