Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

If Rudy Giuliani pulls this one off, perhaps he deserves to win. Speaking to the National Rifle Association today, the former New York mayor and longtime advocate of gun control is betting that he can nudge the NRA to at least look the other way as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination.

But GOP rival John McCain was only too happy to note in his NRA speech that in other news today a federal appeals court hears oral arguments in a 2000 lawsuit that Giuliani filed as mayor against gun makers and distributors to hold them liable for violent crimes committed with guns.

Oh, and there’s that little problem about the time that Giuliani referred to the NRA as “extremists.” Still, NRA officials are sounding conciliatory, although dismissing his chances for a full endorsement.

Any gun-control advocate running for president who can manage to nullify the NRA is a skilled politician indeed.