Endorsements by your average governor or senator are usually not that big a deal, especially from a state that does not have a significant role in the nominating process, but Louisiana Sen. David Vitter’s endorsement of Giuliani is a big positive for the Giuliani campaign, because it sends a message that Rudy is acceptable to social conservatives. ~Tom Bevan

The Vitter endorsement may or may not be important, but if it is it is not important for this reason.  Philip Klein, who is nothing if not pro-Giuliani, wrote about this endorsement:

One aspect of the story that hasn’t been mentioned in news accounts I’ve read is that in 2004, Giuliani campaigned for Vitter when he was seeking the seat being vacated by Sen. John Breaux. According to a New Orleans Times-Picayune article from back then, Giuliani headlined a $300,000 fundraiser for Vitter. This made me wonder whether with the Vitter endorsement we’re beginning to see Giuliani cash in some of the political IOU’s that he’s built up over the past three election cycles, in which he’s used his star power to campaign and raise money for many Republican candidates.

So Vitter may be representative of a trend we will start to see where some of the Republican pols Giuliani has helped over the past five years will come around and endorse him, which is not politically irrelevant.  But if, as Bevan says, Louisiana doesn’t play a big role in the nominating process (and it doesn’t) and these endorsements aren’t normally that big of a deal, Vitter’s reciprocation of Giuliani’s support is interesting but precisely not a real sign of social conservative approval.  If Giuliani raised that much money for every social conservative in office, he might get a lot of these endorsements that may be nothing more than repayment of a debt.  This seems to be an open case of a social conservative who owes Rudy paying off his debt.  I’m not sure this is necessarily the image a Brooklyn goombah wants to cultivate: “Senator, Mr. Giuliani would like you to show your appreciation of his loyalty over the years.  You know that Mr. Giuliani takes care of you, and he would hate to see anything happen to you.  It would be a real shame if something happened to you, you know, Senator?  Mr. Giuliani would be very upset.”