Rudy Giuliani’s campaign is also debuting an ad this week, this one entitled, “Leadership.” This one is running in New Hampshire and Boston.

It’s designed to emphasize Giuliani’s leadership throughout his career, and uses a subtle visual effect I haven’t seen before – the foreground of a photograph slowly moves in one direction while the background moves the other direction, looking something like a pop-up book. There are several images of Giuliani’s days when he had a full head of hair, and Giuliani is now an official candidate, since he, too, has a picture of Ronald Reagan shaking his hand as younger man. Thompson uses his equivalent of that picture frequently, and Kerry used his JFK ones, as did young Bill Clinton shaking JFK’s hand.

The script:

MAYOR GIULIANI: “I believe I’ve had the most leadership experience of anyone that’s running. It’s not just holding executive positions, like Mayor of New York, or United States Attorney, or 3rd ranking official in the Reagan Justice Department. It’s having held those positions in time of crisis. I’ve been tested in a way in which the American people can look to me. They’re not going to find perfection, but they’re going to find somebody who has dealt with crisis almost on a regular basis and has had results. And in many cases, exceptional results. Results people thought weren’t possible. I’m Rudy Giuliani and I approve this message.”

What jumps out at me is that this is the second ad in which Giuliani says voters “aren’t going to find perfection.” I admire the modesty, but I don’t know if this will really help him deflect the attacks when they start coming in fast and furiously.