He’s clearly the big winner in Katrina political fall-out, and I say this as a persistent McCain critic. Sure, everyone is going to think of Giuliani in a crisis. But that’s already his strength. So he doesn’t gain anything. It’s McCain who is picking up something he didn’t have–the sympathy of conservatives who love what he is saying at the moment about the need to cut to make up for Katrina spending. McCain is perfectly positioned to make this case, given his long-running excoriation of pork-barrel spending and his votes against the prescription drug bill and the highway bill. This is the first time in a while that conservatives have listened to him talk about anything related to domestic policy and been very pleased. He is winning points that will help him down the road, even if it is only serving to soften conservative hostility to him.