A-K strategy in general

A recent post discussed a hand with A-K and there were some interesting replies. I wanted to get some thoughts on A-K in general in NL play. When playing A-K, which of these strategies do you find the most profitable overall? I realize that most players (including myself), probably mix up both strategies to keep people guessing, but which do you find to be preferable overall?

(1) Raise before the flop, to drive out weak drawing hands and low pocket pairs. If on the flop you get an ace or king, you can then slow-play if there's no obvious flush or straight draw. If the flop misses you, you can still bet out and have a good chance of taking it down because you showed strength pre flop.

(2) Limp into the flop, as a means of keeping hands like A-rag or K-rag suited in the hand. Then, if the ace or king hits after the flop, you can get those guys to bet into you and just call them on the flop and turn, which hides your strength. On the river, you can pull a check-raise, which they'll have a tough time not walking away from with so much already invested on a top pair, and you're going to most likely bust them (or come close to it) and take down a monster pot. If you had raised it up pre-flop, a hand like ace-6 isn't going to like his hand nearly as much after the flop as if you had just limped in.

All books and strategy sites tell you to raise pre-flop with A-K as a rule, but since it's a drawing hand, I'm not sure I understand why option (2) isn't the better option overall. If I'm in late position and there have been a bunch of limpers, sometimes i'll come in with a good sized raise to try to take it down right there, and if you get called thats fine too because it's a powerful hand. But I'm not sure I see why it's smart to raise it up pre-flop in early position with that hand. It's not like when you have a pair of jacks or queens, where you're trying to drive out the overcard hands like K-J and A-10... if you have A-K, you WANT those types of hands to see the flop because the people holding them are going to have a tough time letting them go if they pair up the big card.

What do you think?