In a column not too long ago, I derided the idea of a McCain comeback. I still deride it (deride!), but with John McCain showing life in a few polls, it seems prudent to revisit the issue.

In particular, I gave a useful rule to judge just how real any potential comeback might be: “So, as the stories inevitably come heralding the resurgence of John McCain, here’s a handy tip as to whether you should believe them: When either Mr. Giuliani or Mr. Thompson starts attacking the war hero whose endorsement they both want, then you’ll know he poses a serious threat. Until then, it’s all just the latest bogus trend story.”

Well, dear reader, Rudy Giuliani has started attacking John McCain. It started out last week as the Giuliani camp responding to some swipes from the McCain camp. That, I thought, really didn’t count. Giuliani couldn’t just lie still while McCain kicked him. Unless Giuliani were initiating the attacks, it really didn’t fit my rule. Well, on Friday, Giuliani’s campaign attacked McCain on a $3 million loan his campaign’s trying to secure and on the independent advertisements supporting the senator in South Carolina.

So, why is this happening? Well, McCain has moved back into second place, edging out Fred Thompson for the spot, in some national polls. More importantly, though, he’s tied things up with Giuliani in New Hampshire. Giuliani expects to lose Iowa to Mitt Romney (rightly so), but he wants to win New Hampshire so as not to go into Florida and February 5 0-3 in the early states.

I continue to think the sniping between Giuliani and McCain is at a low enough level so as not to jeopardize a possible Rudy endorsement should McCain decide to drop out early — McCain hates Mitt Romney almost as much as I do, and he’s not about to endorse the fading-fast Fred Thompson effort.

As for a McCain resurgence? I could end up eating my hat, but this still looks to me like a Rudy-Romney race, with Romney playing a very traditional early state strategy and Rudy playing a very innovative national strategy. I don’t see any scenario where McCain could win, between extreme dislike from the Republican base and, well, NO MONEY.

Still, this is a “‘Death Watch’ Death Watch” item, not a “Death Watch” item.