The Giuliani campaign has often seemed to me to be less than sure-footed, and that it has hung on to its lead a testament to the appeal the candidate brought to the race rather than to any strategic decisions he has made since entering it. There is at least one exception to this rule: Giuliani has handled the immigration issue masterfully.

The problem is that he has a long record of being soft on illegal immigration (and, obviously, that Republican primary voters are not fond of illegal immigration). He could have flip-flopped: But he does not want to get the same reputation as Romney. And he may want to leave open the possibility of pushing for an amnesty as president. Embracing the Senate bill, on the other hand, would have damaged his campaign both by undermining his tough-guy credentials and annoying conservatives.

So he came up with a somewhat technical reason for opposing the bill–he wants better databases. There was no flip-flop. Giuliani has a track record of wanting data on people, after all. But neither did he get associated with an unpopular bill. In the presidential field, all of the conservative outrage at the bill has been directed at John McCain. At the moment, you’d have to say that immigration is helping Giuliani–just because it has caused McCain to tank–even though his position is out of line with most Republican primary voters. That’s a neat trick.