Texas may not have a nominee in the 2008 Presidential race yet, but that doesn’t mean it can’t throw some money down. Unlikely Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani will be in Houston for a fundraiser tomorrow, touching up the great, the good, and the filthy rich for campaign contributions. Giuliani’s exploratory committee chair, former Bush pioneer Patrick Oxford is hoping those billfolds that opened up to shower cash on a right-wing Texan nominee will be as forthcoming for a pro-choice, pro-gay-rights East Coast candidate.

But our advice to all those deep pockets in Houston is: don’t start signing those checks too soon. America’s Mayor may become another (purely political) victim of the Iraq quagmire.

Today, former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton and former Reagan attorney general Ed Meese blamed the U.S. government for the lawlessness in Iraq (duh!) and said the Justice Department should have taken responsibility for training Iraqi police. Instead, they left it to private firms and external consultants – consultants like former NYPD commissioner, and Rudy’s one-time personal driver, Bernard Kerik. Kerik was CEO of Giuliani-Kerik LLC (now Giuliani Security & Safety), the security consultancy arm of Rudy’s international consultancy firm Giuliani LLC. Kerik oversaw the patently unsuccessful reconstitution of the Iraqi police force. Undaunted by those failures, he tried to be head honcho of Homeland Security. And who recommended Bernie to Dubya for that gig? Yup, Rudy.

As every presidential hopeful tries to to distance themselves from Iraq, and link their opponent to the debacle, does anyone think that this won’t be used against the former mayor of New York?

This article appears in January 26 • 2007.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.