One candidate who gets “particularly high marks for his accomplishments” from Toomey is former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Toomey said that “Giuliani performed outstanding in a very difficult liberal environment that had big budget deficits and a bloated bureaucracy. He came in and cut taxes, cut spending and sold off city assets. He really accomplished quite a lot considering the very liberal city council he had to deal with.”

Toomey does not see the club getting involved with the Republican primary if Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney remain the front-runners.

“They have all demonstrated a pretty solid commitment to economic growth,” Toomey said. “The only prospect in which I would really want us to step up our activities is if there was a surprising surge from either McCain or Huckabee.”

Toomey dismisses the notion that Republicans lack enthusiasm for 2008. He points to the Democrats’ big win in 2006 and the fact that they have a clear front-runner in Hillary Clinton as the basis for their energy.

“If Giuliani wins the nomination, he would be a fascinating candidate in the sense that he really re-draws the map,” Toomey said.

He points out that Giuliani could carry New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania “so he changes the political calculus of the Electoral College dramatically.”

“The unknown challenge with Giuliani,” said Toomey, “are the social conservatives.”

“Look,” laughed Toomey. “Hillary Clinton will energize Republicans like nobody’s business … just wait until they hear Hillary Clinton give her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention next summer.”