DES MOINES, Iowa – Raising money for local Republicans even as he ponders his own political future, the former New York City mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, said yesterday that Republicans must increasingly be “a big party” that accepts divergent views.

Mr. Giuliani said that broad-brush themes, like limited government, ought to define the Republican Party – not hot-button social issues like abortion and gay rights.

“The major thing that we organize around as Republicans is government that puts more reliance on people than government,” Mr. Giuliani said. “They (Democrats) tend to think of government solutions as most of the answers.”

Mr.Giuliani was in Iowa to raise money for Jeff Lamberti, a Republican candidate for Congress, and Rep. Jim Nussle, who is running unopposed for the Republican nomination for governor.

Mr. Giuliani was also clear he’s considering his own future ambitions.

“I am interested in public service again,” he said. “My effort this year will be to help Republicans get elected and, quite honestly, a part of it also is saying to myself ‘Does it look like I have a chance in 2008?'”

Some strategists believe Mr. Giuliani will face significant hurdles in Republican politics because he supports abortion rights and favors tough gun control laws, views that contrast those held by many core Republican voters.

Mr.Giuliani is working hard to counter that notion by helping other Republicans get elected, while reaching out to conservatives to ease their concerns.

“I’ve got a lot of places to go and a lot of people to talk to and a long process to go through to see if it makes sense for me to run for president in 2008,” Mr. Giuliani said.

Iowa Republican Chairman Ray Hoffman, of Sioux City, declined to handicap Mr. Giuliani’s outlook in a state where the conservative wing of the party is dominant.

“I hope to really be able to talk to him at some point and say where do you stand on gun control, where do stand on this, where do you stand on that,” Mr. Hoffman said. “I haven’t done that yet.”

Meeting with reporters, Mr. Giuliani took an immigration stance likely to cause heartburn with GOP conservatives – arguing for a pragmatic approach that both toughens border security but also sets up a mechanism for illegal aliens to earn citizenship.

“If you try to deal with it through either extreme, I think you would make a terrible mistake,” Mr. Giuliani said. “If you were to pass a law making everybody who is here, allegedly illegally, a criminal with a penalty of five years in jail, we would become a much more insecure country. You drive them farther underground, you push them more toward criminal activity.”

Mr. Giuliani’s swing through Iowa was lucrative. He raised $40,000 for Mr. Lamberti’s bid to oust Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell, and later raised $25,000 for Mr. Nussle.