Adam Nagourney thinks Rudy Giuliani is a “major candidate.”

I’d only be comfortable continuing to call Rudy Giuliani a “major candidate” if Nagourney also designated Ron Paul and Fred Thompson as “major candidates.” But he doesn’t. His list is McCain, Romney, Huckabee, and Giuliani.  Adding Paul and Thompson to that list would mean the entire field consists of “major candidates,” so including Giuliani, from an intellectual consistency standpoint, requires the remainder of the GOP primary to take place in Lake Wobegone.

Nagourney avoids intellectual consistency in favor of the groundless assertion that a candidate with less votes nationwide and less money than Ron Paul is a “major candidate.” I’m willing to grant that Ron Paul’s performance and fundraising capacities do put him in the realm of major candidate, but even to concede that to Paul does not make it necessary to grant the same thing to Giuliani.

In short, Nagourney is making things up.