First, my apologies for not posting last week -- I had a birthday and then Easter things to attend to.  Happy Easter, by the way!  So let's get to it...

OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN NEWS:

On New Jersey's primary move to February 5th, and on New York's primary move...

Campaign finance reports are in!  Rudy's campaign committee "reported more than $15 million in receipts for the primary during the first quarter. The Committee raised nearly $14 million in primary election funds with over $11 million cash on hand, the vast majority of which is primary money. More than $10 million in primary funds was raised in March alone, highlighting a very healthy fundraising pace. Including the money raised at the one event in December, the Committee has close to $17 million in primary receipts."

Lots of campaign news from Florida... State Attorney General Bill McCollum is going to head up his campaign there.  Rudy's been endorsed by several Pinellas County leaders.  Several State Senators also endorsed his campaign.  

WHAT HIS OPPONENTS ARE SAYING:

I must admit, I am thinking about taking this category out of my roundups.  Nobody else seems to be saying much about Rudy, and I'm frankly a little disappointed.  Makes for a less exciting roundup...

NEWS FROM THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA:

A big story in the press right now... Giuliani was off on the price of bread, milk, and gas.  But his campaign did point out that he was only a few cents off the national average for bread and milk.  

Rudy's fundraising ($15M in January-March '07) falls behind Romney's ($23M in same period), but he's still ahead of McCain ($12.5M), says USAToday.

First, according to AP, Rudy said he wouldn't mind having his wife sit in on cabinet meetings if she was interested... but then he took it back.  

FoxNews reported today that while Rudy was in Alabama, he said he believed that states should decide whether to fly the Confederate flag.

The Chicago Tribune reported that:  

The April 2-5 Gallup Poll found that Giuliani is the favorite among 38 percent of the Republican and Republican-leaning voters surveyed, when a broad field of potential Republicans is named. This places him in a similar position that Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York holds among Democrats surveyed by Gallup - with an apparent two-to-one advantage over other party candidates.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran an AP story about the cases that Giuliani prosecuted... the mob and the teamsters, insider trading, former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, the Helmsleys, and NYC corruption.

Rudy is sticking up for Don Imus, after Imus's description of the Lady Rutgers basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."  Rudy says:

"I believe that he understands that he made a very, very big mistake, that that wasn't his intention," Giuliani said in Montgomery. "But it was very, very damaging what he said, he understands the damage he did to the people on the team."

Giuliani also said he would appear on his radio show again, since he believed Imus was sorry for his comments about the team.

"He seems sincerely sorry about it and he seems like someone who will endeavor not to do that again and I'll take him at his word," Giuliani said. "And assume that he sticks to that, which I have no reason to believe he wouldn't, I would appear on his show."

Rudy has also called for compormise on the current Iraq bill.  He "accused Democrats of throwing up a flag of surrender in Iraq but urged President Bush to seek a negotiated solution with Congress before vetoing legislation that would impose a timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces from the conflict."

Lastly, Rudy responded to a question about Terry Schiavo.  The New York Sun reported:

"Can I ask you about Terri Schiavo?" a reporter asked at a press availability on April 4. "Did you support the congressional intervention to--"

At this point Mr. Giuliani cut in, according to a transcript provided by his campaign: "I believe I did. I don't, I, it's a while ago and I think I said that I thought every effort should be made to keep her alive. I don't know that I supported the, the whole thing to the very end, but I am not sure now."

Pushed by the reporter for a more specific (and coherent) answer about whether he thought the Schiavo intervention was appropriate, Mr. Giuliani said, "I thought it was appropriate to make every effort to give her a chance to stay alive."

WHATS UP IN THE BLOGOSPHERE:

Conservative

The Corner posted that Ed Crane asked Romney and Giuliani both at separate times about whether they "believed the president should have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens with no review."  Romney said he needed to hear more, Giuliani said "he would want to use this authority infrequently."  A few days later, The Corner posted a "Defense of Giuliani"  which clarified the situation...

He is getting attacked a lot in the left end of the blogosphere over something I posted over the weekend. (Romney's taking some hits too.) Supposedly Giuliani has shown that he's a dictator, a fascist, etc. Also freedom in America has already been extinguished.

What happened is that Ed Crane, the head of the libertarian Cato Institute, asked Romney and Giuliani on separate occasions a polemically-phrased question about the president's authority to designate detainees as enemy combatants--or, as Crane put it, arrest citizens without review. Crane thinks, along with the left-wing bloggers, that the president has no such authority (although some of the bloggers are unaware he's on their side). Romney ducked the question. Giuliani said he would use the authority infrequently.

Hard Starboard says Giuliani isn't nominatable because of his position on abortion.  The author uses some interesting quotes.

The Moc says on the same issue:

When the historians record the occurences of the 2008 presidential election, they'll note that Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's campaign began to fall apart in the first week of April, 2007. Having now refused to recant his 1989 view in support of public funding for abortion (i.e., abortion on demand), Rudy has destroyed his own candidacy. I don't care if he likes strict constructionist judges, supporting the use of taxpayer dollars to fund such barbarity is unconcionable. Even the most pro-choice Republicans I know absolutely refuse to even consider public funding of abortion. It is a complete no-go in Republican circles, and for Rudy to think that he has so much as a shred of a chance at getting the nomination with such views is laughable.

Right Side of the Rainbow, a conservative gay blog, says that Giuliani's position on abortions will "put him at odds with the party's social libertarians."  A great metaphor for why there should not be public funding for abortions:

Even if we assume arguendo that abortion is a constitutional right, it doesn't follow that the Government should pay for it. You have a constitutional right to freedom of the press, too. But don't expect the Government to buy you a printing press.

Captain's Quarters has a thorough discussion of Rudy's comments blaming the blogosphere for his rough campaign.  The blog also responded to an open letter to Giuliani in yesterday's New York Post.  Captain Ed believes that Rudy should take the author's advice.  The post is worth a read.

Liberal

DownWithTyranny! responded to the same letter in the NY Post by calling it "what you'd expect from a reactionary hack like Podwhoretz in a rag like the Post."  Also an interesting take, but he uses a porno metaphor so watch out.

Roger L. Simon is upset with another New York publication... the Times.  He says about this article, "This is the kind of article the Times prints as serious journalistic analysis when even the slightest perusal demonstrates the usual tawdry mix of bias and wish fulfillment."  But then he goes on to actually rebut the content of the article.  A good read.

Wonkette, always a little outrageous, wrote that Giuliani is senile because of his response to the Terry Schiavo question.

Rudy has apparently lost his mind, if his responses to routine questions about Terri Schiavo (remember her? Rudy doesn't!) are any indication.

Again, they used a picture of him in drag.  Get over it, guys!

And the Huffington Post wrote a post entitled "How Stupid is Giuliani?"  It's almost painful to read because of the liberal bias, but if you can stand it, they make some good points.

Mixed

The Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal wrote about Giuliani's shocked reaction to a question about Kerik:

"I think I should have done a better job of investigating him, vetting him," a slightly startled Mr. Giuliani told reporters. "People have a right to question my judgment," he said when asked whether his ties with Mr. Kerik could hurt his campaign. "They have a right to question everything about me. And then they have to look at the things I've done that are successful, the things they think that I've done right, and the mistakes they think I've made."

Alphecca, "an independent, libertarian, gay gun nut," posted about Giuliani's gun control and says he can never ever vote for Rudy because "while he might say that he is against new federal laws, the fact is that he supported national firearm registration and blamed other states for NY's illegal gun problems."