Rudy Pockets an Ace

Rudy Giuliani just made the best move of his Presidential campaign.

As Dan Balz and I wrote in today's Post, presidential candidates on both sides are focused heavily on bolstering their Internet presence through a variety of new tools, including video, podcasts and even online video chats.

To brainstorm and implement these new innovations, the campaigns are chasing after a small group of people in their 20s and early 30s versed in the language of the new media.

One of the real "gets" on the GOP side of that world is Patrick Ruffini, who served as the Web master of President Bush's 2004 reelection campaign and then served in a similar role at the Republican National Committee. Ruffini gained recognition in national Republican circles for his blog, which was one of the first serious attempts on the Republican side at building an online community.

Ruffini has signed on with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign as an e-campaign adviser. The hiring is only the latest sign that Giuliani is serious about a run for national office in 2008.

I've said before that for my money, Romney and Huckabee are the only two truly viable top-of-the-ticket candidates.  Ruffini may be a powerful enough asset to change that calculus.  Few would argue with the contention that he's the right's savviest new media pioneer and with resume line items including Bush-Cheney 2004 webmaster and RNC eCampaign Director, there are few Grand Old Pools he doesn't swim in.

Up to this point, the high water mark among Republican Presidential candidates' web presences and online outreach has been defined by the rich content and lightning fast, new media-infused response rate of Mitt Romney's site (under Stephen Smith's e-stewardship).  I don't think it's going out on a limb to say we can likely expect to Rudy's site to undergo an upgrade to similar standards very shortly.

The only downside (from a blog reader's perspective) to this news is the uncertain future it portends for Patrick's own recently re-launched blog.