John McCain’s presidential campaign may be struggling, but he’s getting some love on the trail in Iowa. Stumping near Mason City on Monday, Rudy Giuliani praised the Arizona senator, not once but twice, telling his audience that if he weren’t waging his own bid for the White House that he’d be campaigning for McCain. “He’d be my candidate,” Giuliani said, telling voters, among other things, that he agrees with McCain’s position on Iraq. “I admire the man tremendously.”

That’s some serious sweet talk, considering Rudy was out touting his own bid for the White House. In fact, his declaration prompted some surprised looks among audience members, including reporters on the scene. After all, it was less than two months ago that Giuliani and McCain got into a big time fight over immigration reform. Rudy was no fan of a McCain-sponsored bill in the Senate, trashing it during June’s CNN GOP debate as a “typical Washington mess.” That prompted an angry response from McCain, who snittily suggested that Giuliani should read the bill before criticizing it.

Are the two pals again? Who knows, but they’ve always been considered fairly close allies on many issues. McCain has campaigned for Giuliani in the past, and told reporters last spring that he considers the former mayor and his wife, Judi, “good friends.” “ [My wife]  and I usually have dinner with them when we’re up in New York,” McCain said in April. This comes on the heels of Sunday’s GOP debate in Des Moines, where Mitt Romney, a guy you’d never mistake as president of the McCain fan club, was practically friendly to the senator. Like Rudy, Romney said that he agreed with McCain on Iraq.

Why are people being so nice to McCain? There are plenty of worthy conspiracy theories. Perhaps his opponents don’t regard McCain as much of a threat anymore and know that his endorsement, in spite of his differences with the party, would be a good one. And although it’s August and voters won’t head to the polls for another five months or so, it’s probably never too soon for a GOP hopeful to begin considering their options for veep.