Maybe Rudy Giuliani thinks there are no Yankee fans north of Hartford, Conn.

Well, we can tell you first hand that there are a few around. Diehard fans. Fans who unabashedly carry on in Red Sox territory, regardless of who's in the World Series and who isn't.

So imagine the shock felt among this fearless group when they heard of Rudy's Blasphemy.

He's rooting for the Red Sox in the World Series. He's what?

His campaign says it's no pander. He says he's always rooted for the American League team in the fall classic.

If so, then the "Yankee Fan-in-Chief" apparently doesn't quite understand the nature and depth of The Biggest Rivalry in Sports, after all. Or if he does, maybe he's willing to have temporary amnesia if it means a few votes.

Unless he makes a Red Sox exception to his "root for the American League team" rule, he doesn't get it. He doesn't get at all.

Red Sox fans we know understand this. True Red Sox fans (and we know many, of course) don't want Rudy Giuliani or any Yankee fan rooting for the Red Sox. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever.

And that's good. Because true Yankee fans won't.

Red Sox fans sure didn't root for the Yankees back when they used to go to the World Series pretty regularly (with the possible exception of the post-9/11 Series in 01).

Democrat Chris Dodd strikes us as the truest Red Sox fan among the candidates. Would he root for the Yankees if the situation were reversed?

"Every true Red Sox fan knows that being a fan means more than just rooting for the Red Sox to win, it means also rooting for the Yankees to lose," Dodd said yesterday. "I am glad to see that Mayor Giuliani has seen the error of his ways and converted to Red Sox Nation, however, if the situation were reversed I would be strongly supporting the National League team over the Yankees."

Good for Dodd. That's the way it's supposed to be. The reverse is what the Head Yankee Fan should say.

It's unclear how "big" this really is -- if it really goes to the character and integrity issue, as some say.

UNH Survey Center director Andy Smith thinks it's a "light" issue. He noted that Giuliani "teased Hillary Clinton about rooting for the Cubs one day and the Yankees the next. And now he's changing his stripes. Some candidates may try to use it as an example of something else, but I think he just got carried away."

Still, we know that New Englanders like people who stick to their proverbial guns (or in this case, with their teams).

It's simple. Yankees or Red Sox. Live Free or Die. No gray area. No exceptions.

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LIVID LEVIN. So, Michigan Sen. Carl Levin told Washington reporters that he wants his state's Democrats to opt out of the new state law there and have a caucus or primary on the same day as the New Hampshire primary. Well, nothing new there.

Levin and Co. have been threatening that for more than a year. State Democratic Chair Ray Buckley says, "Levin has already rendered his state irrelevant."

An interesting part of the piece in The Politico is that Levin "admitted that New Hampshire might be able to beat Michigan to the punch" -- that is, move more quickly to get absentee ballots out and organize a contest.

If Levin really means that, it's exactly what Secretary of State Bill Gardner and state primary protection law author Jim Splaine have been saying all along. So let the waiting game continue.

Meanwhile, the Michigan Democrats have hammered Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis for telling us last Friday that his party has no desire to have a primary any closer than a week behind New Hampshire and will either hold a primary on Jan. 15 or a caucus on Jan. 26.

Mark Brewer, Michigan's Democratic chair, accused Anuzis of "kowtowing" and showing himself to be "well-qualified to be chairman of the New Hampshire GOP."

Michigan Republican spokesman Bill Nowling responded, "Earth to Brewer: Republican presidential candidates are campaigning in Michigan and that is a direct result of moving up Michigan's primary.

"How many Democrats are campaigning here? Zero. They are boycotting the state for moving up its primary date and competing with New Hampshire." That, he said, is a real "kowtow."

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HARKIN CALLS IN. Gardner tells us he received a call from Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin last Friday, and got the impression Harkin was putting out feelers for a primary date.

He said he simply told Harkin the primary can be held no later than Jan. 8 and that while he prefers to have it in January, "it's not my preference that matters. It's the state law that matters and if it has to be in December, it will be in December."

Gardner said Harkin told him that Iowa Democrats continue to disagree on a date for their caucus among Thursday, Jan. 3 (when Iowa Republicans will caucus), Saturday, Jan. 5 and Gov. Chet Culver's stated preference, Jan. 14.

Gardner said he'll wait until after the filing period ends on Nov. 2 to announce the date and would do it "earlier rather than later, hopefully."

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NOT AGAIN! John McCain last month took heat for calling a Concord High School student a "little jerk" after he questioned if McCain was too old to be President.

On Monday, McCain went to the First Impressions Eagle Square Deli in Concord. Owner Pete Silvestro says that when he began to introduce McCain to the staff, "He said, Don't listen to this jerk,'" referring to him.

"It was kind of inappropriate," Silvestro said. "I guess he was trying to be funny, but it didn't come across that way."

McCain political director Mike Dennehy said his candidate "meant it as a joke. That's John McCain's way of making light of certain situations, and some people aren't sure how to take it."

McCain has a new ad out in the state today that accuses Hillary Clinton of supporting a $1 million expenditure for a Woodstock concert museum. McCain said he didn't attend Woodstock because he was "tied up" at the time, meaning he was being held in a North Vietnamese prison camp.

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THOMPSON AND NEW HAMPSHIRE Fred Thompson lost Dan Hughes to McCain but gained Charlie Arlinghaus.

Former Ambassador Gerry Carmen of Manchester remains on board with Thompson but said, "I know we don't have a lot of activity going on up here, and I think for those of us like myself who are from New Hampshire, it's been disappointing so far.

"I can understand a strategy that does not include New Hampshire, especially if the primary is in December," said Carmen. But he added he was "absolutely not" ever told by Thompson higher-ups that New Hampshire would be ignored. "What I'm told is they would like to include New Hampshire," he said.

Arlinghaus said he has been assured that Thompson "is going to spend a lot of time" here. He also said he is endorsing Thompson as an individual, not as president of the non-partisan, non-profit Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy.

State GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen confirmed that Thompson was initially invited to be the featured speaker at the party's recent state committee meeting but "they told me they couldn't commit to it and they knew we had to make alternative plans." At that point, he said, McCain was invited.

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A NEW POLL. Saint Anselm College's Institute of Politics will release a new poll today, completed by SRBI Research in New York City, showing that Clinton and Romney hold solid leads in New Hampshire.

The survey of 1,514 likely primary voters has margins of error of 4.1 percent for Democrats, 4.5 percent for Republicans and 4.8 percent for undecided voters. It was conducted Oct. 15 to 21.

It shows Democrat Clinton leading Obama 42.6 to 21.5 percent, with John Edwards at 13.9 percent. Among Republicans, Romney leads Giuliani 32.4 to 21.8 percent, with John McCain at 15.2 percent and Ron Paul in fourth place at 7.4 percent.

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RUDY COMES THROUGH. Cullen told us last month that Giuliani’s campaign had not come through on its three-month-old promise to contribute to the state party’s June fund-raiser.Well, in fairness, we can now report that, according to the chairman, Rudy’s campaign recently “make good on its commitment” and contributed $10,000.

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OBAMA AND McCLURKIN. Barack Obama has been hit with some local criticism for signing a gospel singer allegedly with anti-gay views to campaign with him as part of an upcoming South Carolina tour.

According to the New York Times, Donnie McClurkin, “a black preacher who sang at the Republican National Convention in 2004, has gained notoriety for his view that homosexuality is a choice and can be ‘cured’ through prayer, a view ridiculed by gay people.”

Mo Baxley of the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition said yesterday that while the group respects Obama and his “good track record on LGBT issues,” his decision to “align himself publicly with anti-gay individuals is both hurtful and disappointing and we are saddened that a person who has so consistently supported basic civil rights for gay and lesbian Americans would choose to do so.”

Baxley said Obama “should be surrounding himself with people who enhance his ideals in their own lives, work and ministries and hope that in the future, the senator will be more careful in his selection of such programs. He excels at finding common ground but he cannot do so at the expense of American LGBT citizens.”

Obama’s campaign re-issued a statement in which Obama calls gays and lesbians “our brothers and sisters and should be provided the respect, dignity, and rights of all other citizens. I have consistently spoken directly to African-American religious leaders about the need to overcome the homophobia that persists in some parts our community so that we can confront issues like HIV/AIDS and broaden the reach of equal rights in this country. I strongly disagree with Reverend McClurkin’s views.”

Baxley said a UCLA study last year found that about 6 percent of Granite Staters are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual.

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LYNCH’S TAXES AND TOLLS. Cullen says the Republican State Committee this week put up about 100 signs at turnpike system exit and entrance ramps stating, “John Lynch: Higher Tolls and Higher Taxes” in a blue and white mock of Lynch campaign signs.

A state law says one can’t put signs on highway right-of-ways, but Cullen says they are placed legally.

Bet we haven’t heard the last of this one.

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QUICK TAKES:

-- Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen officially has her long-time friend back at her side. Judy Reardon has left The Dupont Group lobbying firm and is now a paid senior advisor to the campaign.

-- U.S. District Court Judge nominee Joe LaPlante of Nashua had his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, and we understand it went smoothly. LaPlante could be on the bench before the end of the year.

-- State Democrats report raising $100,000 at last Saturday’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Manchester. Several awards were given including a new “Kathy Sullivan Award,” named for the former chair, to state Rep. Betty Lasky of Nashua. Reps. Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter were also honored.

-- A side-step? Romney campaign manager Jim Merrill has put out word that when Romney files for President in Concord on Monday, his rally will be on the steps of the state library, across the street from the back of the State House. Veteran peace activist Arnie Alpert got a kick out of the choice of venue, noting that anti-war activists have been out in force in front of the State House for McCain and Giuliani’s filings.

-- Bill Richardson will slip through a loophole in his pledge not to campaign in Florida and Michigan and hold a low-dollar fund-raiser in Miami on Monday. It’s OK to raise money in those states but not to campaign in them. So says the pledge.

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(John DiStaso is senior political reporter of the New Hampshire Union Leader.)

(John DiStaso is senior political reporter of the New Hampshire Union Leader.)