As recently as the summer, Rudy Giuliani was leading the field in Michigan’s Republican primary. As recently as early December, a Rasmussen poll showed him within two points of first place.

Yesterday, the former mayor finished a distant sixth, with a pathetic 2.8% of the vote. Consider this: Giuliani not only had well under half of Ron Paul’s support, he finished with a similar vote total to Dennis Kucinich — who was running in an uncontested primary and making no effort to actually win votes. Ouch.

It naturally came as no surprise, then, when I saw this CNN headline: “Romney win may give a boost to Giuliani’s White House bid.” Yes, it appears bad news is good news for Rudy.

Mitt Romney’s win in his native state of Michigan appears to be good news for Rudy Giuliani’s bid for the GOP presidential nomination. [...]

Giuliani’s campaign put out a statement Tuesday night congratulating the former Massachusetts governor on his win, adding that “he race remains fluid and competitive, [and] our strategy remains on track.”

Let’s see, Giuliani went from first to sixth in Iowa, first to fourth in New Hampshire, and first to sixth in Michigan. He’s tanking in South Carolina, he’s slipping in Florida, he’s losing to McCain in New York, and he’s blown a 26-point lead in New Jersey, where he’s now polling in single digits. All the while, his campaign has so little money that his senior aides aren’t even going to get paid in January.

Yes, of course, right “on track.”