Sacramento, Calif. -- One of the leaders in the nation's oldest and best-known gay Republican organization signaled tonight that the favorite GOP presidential candidate for his group in '08 was Rudy Giuliani.

"How could we not like Rudy?" James Vaughn, executive director of the 30-year-old Log Cabin Republicans, told me at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where California Republicans were gathering for their state convention this weekend.

"He has always been openly supportive of the gay agenda and won't apologize," said Vaughn, who served as the liaison to gay and lesbian Los Angeleans under former Republican Mayor (1993-2001) Richard Riordan. "As mayor, Rudy backed domestic partnerships and appointed openly gay people to city positions."

Of former Massachusetts Gov. and '08 hopeful Mitt Romney, Vaughn said he "was very pro-gay while governor" and recalled how in 1994, he wrote the Log Cabin Republicans to say "he could do more for our agenda than Ted Kennedy [against whom Romney was the Republican opponent that year]."

Of Romney's effort to distance himself from his past statements on the issue, Vaughn said: "He's trying to be something he's not. Rudy Giuliani once wore a dress [in a comedy skit in New York], but no one would believe he's a woman. Mitt Romney is now going out in conservative drag, but no one will believe he's a conservative."