Last month, I penned a piece for the American Spectator on the subject of McCain's targeting of Mitt Romney, and how it could help Rudy, who is close friends with McCain. That argument has, of course, been echoed elsewhere in the blogosphere, and the idea that McCain and Rudy might be tag-teaming to take down Romney and deliver the nomination to Rudy obviously p*ssed some people in a particular camp off.

So, perhaps it's not surprising that after me, and others, commenting on the apparent, and uncommon, super-friendliness between McCain and Rudy potentially designed to ultimately benefit Rudy, the McCain camp should have sought to quash the notion that they're staying in the race to help a friend, rather than win. (For what it's worth, I think McCain is running to win-- as I pointed out in my piece, a major reason why McCain has targeted Romney so mercilessly is because he stands in the ay of McCain winning New Hampshire, which he must-- a tactic that, incidentally seems to have improved McCain's standing in the Granite State, for what that's worth).

But, as Patrick Ruffini notes, the McCain camp is now doing quite a lot to show that, actually, they're not all that chummy with Rudy, and yes, McCain really is "in it to win it." And they're playing hardball, too. Per Patrick:

John McCain has a new quiz show-style game up on his Web site. It's very nicely produced.

It also makes news, showing how McCain is sharpening his attacks against Rudy Giuliani.

A user who answers "Rudy Giuliani" on question 7 of the game -- "Which candidate is the best general election candidate the Republican Party could nominate?" gets this answer.

The nomination of Rudy Giulian...

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