On Monday, February 12, Rudy's official website reported that Congressman Pete Sessions and former Congresswoman Susan Molinari are supporting Mayor Rudy Giuliani to be the next President of the United States. Both will take active roles aiding Giuliani's exploratory efforts, with Sessions working to build support in the House and Molinari serving as both Senior Advisor and Chairman of Washington outreach.

On Tuesday, February 13, his campaign announced that "Congressman David Dreier, Chairman of the California Republican Congressional Delegation and House Rules Committee Ranking Republican, has announced his support for Mayor Rudy Giuliani to be the next President of the United States" and called it part of his "continuing momentum."

On Wednesday, February 14, Rudy's camp announced several new members of the exploratory committee.

WHAT HIS OPPONENETS ARE SAYING:

They still aren't saying much.  An article in "The Age," an Australian newspaper, says:

So far, these negatives have not been raised by his potential rivals in the Republican Party, nor by his potential Democratic Party opponents. But he knows that once he declares that he is in the race, all these issues will be raised -- and raised again and again. Some observers say this is why Mr Giuliani has been reluctant to declare that he is running.

NEWS FROM THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA:

An online article from Newsweek by Jonathan Alter entitled "Rudy's Dark Side" attempts to make Giuliani look like a schizophrenic with a good side and a bad side, and tries to make the case that the media is only showing the "Good Rudy" after 9/11.  Here's a highlight:

I recall going over to Gracie Mansion in this period to interview the mayor. I asked him why he had not even spoken to C. Virginia Fields, the Manhattan borough president, for more than two years. (Fields's experience was hardly unique among elected officials in New York.) "What's there to talk about?" Giuliani said petulantly. This is not a minor thing. It's not like stiffing Sharpton. It's like the president of the United States saying, "What's there to talk about?" with the minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives.

A recent New York Times article reports that Giuliani is slowly trying to change his position on abortion to appeal more to right-wing voters. In New York City, most voters are pro-choice, but now that Giuliani must appeal to a more conservative Republican base, he is trying to change his language without flip-flopping:

"I hate it," he said of abortion in a recent interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News. "I think abortion is something that, as a personal matter, I would advise somebody against. However, I believe in a woman's right to choose. I think you have to ultimately not put a woman in jail for that."

Andrew Sullivan's most recent article article in The Sunday Times (UK) went over all of the reasons why conservatives may not consider him a "real Republican" and then said:

Then there's the personal life. Giuliani has been married three times. He divorced his second wife while having an affair with a staffer whom he then married. It got ugly for a while. Worse: during his estrangement from his second wife, he lived in the house of a gay couple who were friends. He has also dressed in drag on several occasions. You can YouTube a clip of him in full drag being courted by Donald Trump in a department store. New Yorkers loved it. But it doesn't go down too well in South Carolina.

Or does it? The polling is extremely clear: Giuliani, for all his heretical tendencies, is still ahead of every other Republican candidate. Moreover, a recent Gallup poll found only 23% of Republican voters deeming him "unacceptable" compared with 41% saying the same for John McCain. The salient question to ask is: if Giuliani is so abhorrent to conservatives, why is he polling so well?  

Today's FOXNews.com campaign roundup linked to both NY Daily Post and LA Times articles about Giuliani's recent campaign swing through the Golden State:

-Rudy Giuliani has been barnstorming through California for five days, speaking to the party faithful, raising money and even securing endorsements from the likes of California Rep. David Dreier. Giuliani is focused mostly on the issue of terrorism, and found himself a bit out of place in a black suit and penny loafers at an Agriculture Expo Tuesday. He admitted that he knows little about agriculture but vowed to become an expert. Giuliani also erased any doubt that he would jump into the 2008 race, telling reporters "Yes, I am running."

WHAT'S UP IN THE BLOGOSPHERE:

Liberal Blogs

According to The Huffington Post, the other candidates are using Giuliani's name to increase their own visibility online.  Google searches for "Rudy Giuliani" lead to Mitt Romney's and John McCain's homepages.  No sign yet that Giuliani has taken part in this practice.

TPM Cafe reports that Giuliani responded to Ann Romney's remarks about his multiple marriages by saying that he's not perfect... but neither is anyone else running.

The BooMan Tribune has an extensive report on Giuliani comparing Bush to Honest Abe Lincoln.  He compared Iraq to the Civil War.  If Giuliani weren't already getting liberal support because of his social views, this might make a difference.

TAPPED has a new report very similar to the Newsweek article above discussing how Rudy is a "vain and dangerous authoritarian" and how 9/11 wiped his slate clean.  The author does his best to debunk this new view of Rudy.

Conservative Blogs

Ace of Spades HQ reports that "there's just something odd about Giuliani trying to run to Al Gore's left on global warming. Who knows. Maybe it's actually brilliant." Ace of Spages HQ also writes a Memo to Giuliani, criticizing almost every facet of his campaign, from immigration to gun control. It's very interesting that this conservative blog has taken a critical position on Giuliani, who is the front runner in the GOP polls. Some clips:

You guys are blowing it. You're making the same mistake as your erstwhile rival Hillary! Clinton -- you're running a general election campaign before we've even entered primary season. And look how well that's working out for her, huh? Your enthusiasm for global warming theories and Schwarzenegger's "progressive" leadership on immigration are harmful to your fortunes.

MCCONNELL : Look, I think any Republican who goes out and earns our nomination, through the process, which is like running a gauntlet, is somebody that I think Republicans will rally around. Mayor Giuliani has a great record in the wake of the 9/11 disaster in New York. He's a strong anti-terrorism leader, and is widely admired in our party, and we'll see. You know, a lot of good people are running for president, and I'm going to support the winner.

This post by The Smoking Gun was cited by just about every major blog this week.  It refers to a "Vulnerability Report" that circulated among his top staffers in 1993.  This 450-page report was discovered by Wayne Barrett, whose book I mentioned last week in the Blogosphere section, when he was writing "Rudy!"  The Smoking Gun has this to say (among many other things):

Giuliani, as Barrett reported, ordered copies of the vulnerability study destroyed shortly after it was circulated to top campaign aides. He surely could not have been pleased to read that his "personal life raises questions about a 'weirdness factor.'" That weirdness, aides reported, stemmed from Giuliani's 14-year marriage to his second cousin, a union that he got annulled by claiming to have never received proper dispensation from the Catholic Church for the unorthodox nuptials.

Pajamas Media covers Giuliani's keynote address to the California GOP Convention... and he supports the war.  Brave man.  They also report that Giuliani criticized Gore for not going far enough on global warming because he did not really include solutions.  This could cause some controversy with those on the right who believe global warming isn't really happening.