Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine and President and CEO of Forbes has joined Rudy's team as a National Campaign Co-Chair and Senior Policy Advisor.   Also, Rudy has begun his first ads of the campaign and has chosen to go the economic route first and invoke Reagan in the process:

Giuliani said, "We need supply side policies and reduced government spending--fiscal discipline--to keep the economy growing."

For Giuliani, saying supply side sends a message ... [that] he's a Reagan Republican on the economy, just like he's a Reagan Republican on security.

In conjunction with these ads, his campaign issued a press release that detailed his economic record, including fiscal discipline, cutting taxes, reducing the size of government, privatizing government-owned businesses, and supply-side economics.  It looks as though Rudy is trying to get on the record very early about his economic policies as a basis for the rest of his campaign.  It's definitely not a bad place to start in a political climate that seems overly focused on the Iraq War while the majority of Americans tend to focus more on domestic issues when it comes time to go to the polls.

And finally, the campaign released a strategy memo that detailed the momentum that has been gaining in Giuliani's poll numbers across the board by looking at before February 5th (the date he declared his candidacy) and after February 5th, and the difference between the two.  In the Gallup and Newsweek polls his lead over his nearest Republican opponent has jumped 20 and 21 points, respectively.  They also remark that while some social conservatives are strongly criticizing his positions on abortions and gay marriage, he is leading among regular churchgoers.

WHAT HIS OPPONENTS ARE SAYING:

Again, nothing!  My roommate was remarking to me today that she doesn't hear anything about Rudy, but he's still leading in every major poll.  There's certainly a lot to criticize, but the other GOP contenders, and even the Democrats, aren't publicly speaking about his marriages, his social values, the Chavez scandal, not a word.  I wonder sometimes if they're just too scared to go to bat with a 'tough guy' from Brooklyn.

NEWS FROM THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA:

The Wall Street Journal ran a piece on Giuliani's business ties and how they could potentially hurt his campaign:

There's no evidence Mr. Giuliani had a role in any of his clients' woes. But the Democratic National Committee regularly emails to reporters a file on "Rudy's Known Controversial Dealings," including what it calls "war profiteering" from his firm's investment in a small security company with Iraq contracts. And press reports are popping up with increasing frequency portraying his private-sector work in an unflattering light.

TIME reported on Friday that Giuliani defended Gonzales over the US Attorney firing scandal, a move which puts him opposite some very fired up members of Congress.  Giuliani said that Gonzales is "a decent man" and that people should "give him the benefit of the doubt."  That's pretty idealistic for Washington politics...

The New York Sun says that the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group, has endorsed Giuliani for President, and he has "no qualms" over accepting it.  Might complicate things with the social conservatives, though...

The New York Post ran the headline "The Drama King" about the skeletons in Giuliani's closet.  The interesting one to me is skeleton number 2, Giuliani's first police commissioner, who I'd never heard of until this article:

Skeleton No. 2 is Giuliani's first police commissioner, William Bratton, now the police chief in Los Angeles.

Working for Giuliani, Bratton began the reforms that led to historic crime reductions and helped turn tawdry Times Square into a Disney-certified tourist destination.

Bratton's forced departure from New York in 1996 began a debate that goes on even now: Does the credit Giuliani claims for the crime reduction really belong to Bratton?

And finally, CNN posted a story about Fred Thompson of "Law and Order" fame (of which I am personally a huge fan) and his potential run for president.  What would this do to Rudy's poll numbers?

The poll shows former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani with 31 percent, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, with 22 percent, and Thompson with 12 percent of the vote.

...

Like Giuliani, Thompson can credit fame for his popularity among voters.

"They're both well known. They both have a lot of name recognition. So it appears that some of Giuliani's support, which may have been based on name recognition, is going to Fred Thompson," CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider said.

WHAT'S UP IN THE BLOGOSPHERE:

Conservative

Since we were just talking about Fred Thompson, I guess I'll start with him.  Conservative blog Elephant Biz says this about Thompson's (maybe) impending entry in the race:

Then again, analysis of recent polls suggests that Giuliani's recent surge in the polls is driven in part by conservatives who, despite his liberal social views and support for gay marriage and abortion rights, are backing Giuliani because they think he's the only candidate in the race who can defeat Hillary Clinton in the general election.

Fred Thompson is clearly electable in November - the latest Rasmussen poll shows Thompson virtually tied with Clinton, leading her 44-43. Would his entry into the race cost Giuliani some of his support amongst conservatives looking for a horse who can best Hillary? It's hard to see how it wouldn't.

My prediction: The first reliable national polls after Thompson announces his candidacy will have Thompson roughly tied with Giuliani, and both of them at least 10 points ahead of McCain and Romney.

Ace of Spades HQ posted on Friday about Giuliani's courtship of the Right.  It's well written and extensive, worth the read even if conservative blogging isn't your cup of tea.

The Right Pundits reported on a Strategic Vision poll in Pennsylvania that has Rudy beating McCain 45 to 20%.  The author says this:

I think PA may be one of the 43 states or so that is moving up it's primary so they can feel important. All kidding aside, this result is phenomenal for Rudy. All of the heat he has been taking for his personal life has had zero effect. I honestly feel that Clinton pretty much took all of those issues off the table.

A new leader for a new time. It is Rudy time. Maybe John McCain can get a cabinet position if and only if he behaves himself.

RedState posted about Giuliani expelling Yasser Arafat from a concert for world leaders at the Lincoln Center in 1995, which he was chastized for by Clinton afterwards.  Not such a relevant story anymore, but I think the author has something interesting to say that speaks to Giuliani's ability to handle at least one terrorist leader:

How refreshing is it to have someone on the national political stage that was willing to kick conventional politeness in the face over the simple principle that if it walks like a terrorist, and talks like a terrorist, it probably ought not be invited to dinner?

I feel like this phrase should be incorporated into Rudy's stump speech.  

Liberal

Wonkette says that "[t]here's apparently a small yet rich crowd of anti-Clinton fanatics willing to give millions of dollars to a twice-divorced opera-loving gay-roommate-having Manhattan dandy who hates his own children, works for Hugo Chavez and loves to dress up like a lady. At least he's a fascist!"  Then they use that same picture of Rudy as a Rockette.  Get a new picture already, guys.  

Mad Mike's America wrote an interesting and definitely worth reading blog about Giulani and gun control.  While Mad Mike is trying to show that Giuliani is flip-flopping, he actually ends up defending Rudy's change of policy:

Perhaps most striking, Mr. Giuliani's campaign says it is not clear that he would support a measure he once championed, an assault weapons ban. In explaining his past positions, he and his aides say they were about fighting crime in New York City when he was mayor, adding that restrictions that make sense there can be wrong for other parts of the country.

Dave of Political Dogs praises Rudy in his attempt to show what a threat he will be to the liberals, but he really just ends up making me like Rudy more.

Gawker predicts the end of civil society as we know it if "that incest-taboo-defying bigamist terrorism opportunist Rudy Giuliani" wins the election.  Sounds like a conservative argument to me, but Google tells me Gawker is liberal.  Hmmm.