Don't forget the third man

Republican presidential contenders Rudolph Giuliani and Mitt Romney will this week continue to ignore an important maxim for any political campaign: never engage in a two-man brawl in a three-way race. 

All the mud slinging over their respective fiscal policy credentials may be providing the race's other strong challenger, Fred Thompson, with a chance to make inroads. This is in spite of Thompson's poor showing on the stump.

The Giuliani and Romney campaigns have been forced into this costly tussle by the polling situation in New Hampshire, which is expected to hold the first state primary in 2008.  Romney has built a solid 5-10 point polling lead over Giuliani in the Granite state, which he must win to remain a viable contender.  The latter would love to snatch the top prize there from his chief rival, but is also feeling pressure from Thompson. 

If Giuliani finishes in third place in New Hampshire, behind either Thompson or John McCain, his race for the nomination could be finished.  The mutually destructive Giuliani-Romney battle is therefore likely to continue, unless Romney's New Hampshire lead consistently reaches double digits -- or Thompson's strength in the state fades.