A video criticizing Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani for fundraising in California instead of participating in a debate focusing on social issues facing the black and Hispanic communities is becoming an online audience favorite.

The online video, Rudy Skips Minority Debate to Fundraise with Bo Derek is "spreading across the interweb like wildfire," according to Unruly Media's Viral Video Chart. As of Monday morning, the 80-second spot was at the top of the tracking-site election category, having been viewed more than 45,000 times, with the number quickly rising.

The video was created by Brave New Films, a film production studio founded by liberal activist Robert Greenwald. Greenwald first sent out e-mail about the video on Saturday.

The Thursday debate was organized and moderated by PBS' late-night talk show host Tavis Smiley and held at Baltimore's Morgan State University. The Republican presidential candidates were invited to address pressing issues facing blacks and Hispanics.

Several of the leading Republican contenders, including Giuliani, skipped the debate, citing scheduling conflicts. Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson; Arizona senator John McCain; and former Massachusetts’s governor Mitt Romney also did not attend.

The video seeks to answer the question of what Giuliani was doing instead of participating in the debate. It features shots of Giuliani fundraising in Southern California with former California governor Pete Wilson in a sparsely attended press conference. And it pointedly notes that he was raising money from celebrities such as Bo Derek and Dennis Miller. The video then spliced in rival presidential contender Mike Huckabee at the PBS debate saying that he was "embarrassed for those who did not come."

Giuliani, now a front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination, has become a focal point for Greenwald's online viral video efforts in the past month. Brave New Films in early September launched an anti-Giuliani site, and at the same time released an online video that criticized the former mayor for placing New York's emergency response command center in the World Trade Center. That video has been viewed more than 247,000 times, according to YouTube statistics.

In early July, the International Association of Fire Fighters used YouTube to release a 13-minute documentary that also criticized Giuliani's response to Sept. 11. That video has been viewed 280,000 times.

Giuliani responded to that video at the time with a press release containing facts rebutting the claims the IAFF made in the video.

But Matt Lewis, a contributing writer and director of operations for the conservative Townhall.com, says that tactic won't be effective over time. He believes Giuliani needs to respond via his own online video rebuttals in order to convey the same level of emotional intensity that makes the criticisms compelling to online viewers.

"These videos in and of themselves aren't that big of a deal," he says. "The first punch isn't a devastating blow, but a series of punches un-responded to could create a new, damaging narrative" about Giuliani's candidacy, possibly reshaping voters' perceptions of the candidate.