Pure Horserace: Rudy's Mixed Signals

While most of the political news has been focused of late on the foreign policy sparring between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the upcoming Iowa straw poll, Fred Thompson's non-candidacy candidacy and John McCain's fall from the top of the heap, one much-whispered about story has remained on the back-burner.

The latest issue of Vanity Fair magazine includes an unflattering profile of Rudy Giuliani's third wife, Judith Giuliani, which portrays the would-be first lady as a social-climbing diva of sorts. Giuliani himself does not come off in much better of a light. The article traces Judith Giuliani's life from her roots in a small Pennsylvania town to a stylish Manhattan lifestyle with lots of quotes both on and off the record. It is titled, "Giuliani's Princess Bride," which pretty much tells you what the focus of the story is.

Shoving the article aside (it contains no bombshells), Giuliani's reaction has been curious, at best. The former New York City mayor is no stranger to having his private life splashed across the pages of tabloids, and this isn't the first time it's become an issue in the presidential campaign. Last spring, his son, Andrew, told The New York Times that he would not be a part of Giuliani's presidential campaign, saying, "there's obviously a little problem that exists between me and his wife" — a reference to the bitter and very public divorce between Giuliani and Andrew's mother, Donna Hanover.

In his response then, Giuliani defended his wife, calling her "a very loving and caring" mother and stepmother. Giuliani also asked for privacy, telling reporters: "The more privacy I can have for my family, the better we are going to be able to deal with all these difficulties."

When asked by a reporter this week for reaction to the Vanity Fair article, Giuliani said he had only scanned it and found "enormous numbers of inaccuracies." He then suggested the gossipy story was something reporters should be unconcerned with. "One of the terrible prices that unfortunately families pay in a situation like this is they get castigated and attacked," Giuliani said. "And, usually, most reporters don't even ask about it. They actually have more dignity than to even ask about it."

But in an interview with Charlie Rose on PBS last night, Giuliani had a bit of a different take on private lives made public. "People in this country have a right to find out, one thousand percent, who the heck I am. One of the great strengths I had on September 11, and in the days after that is, I think, people in New York City knew everything about me. They knew the good things and the bad things, the successes and failure. They knew some of the mistakes I had made in my private life. … I could just be who I was and I could lead, I think, effectively. … I think probably the same thing is true in the times that we live in for the President of the United States."

Rose felt the statement significant enough that he posted the clip on the Huffington Post blog. It's a sentiment that seems to clash with his previous statements. There certainly is a difference between the public knowing about something personal like a divorce and his relationship with his children or personal opinions about his wife, but he might find it difficult to define that line as the campaign rolls on. — Vaughn Ververs

Gingrich's Plain Talk: Young conservatives packed an auditorium this morning at George Washington University in Washington to hear what was originally billed as a discussion of the 2008 presidential candidates with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. But Gingrich, in his remarks to the Young America's Foundation's National Conservative Student Conference, also talked frankly on issues ranging from the "major failures" of the Republican Party to Sen. Barack Obama's newly-unveiled position on Pakistan.

During the little time Gingrich spent speaking about the '08 candidates, he couldn't resist weighing in on Obama's announcement yesterday that, if president, he would be willing to send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists. Obama's warning to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that Pakistan risks a U.S. invasion if Obama is elected was, in Gingrich's words, "a sign [Obama] has never looked at the problem." Gingrich went on to further condemn Obama, saying of his proposal: "Loud talk with a cheap budget is going to get us killed."

Gingrich spent an hour slamming both the right and the left. "I've been really troubled by what I see as the failure of both major parties," he said. Citing the current Republican administration, he spoke plainly of the failures in Iraq and on the global war on terror. "Six years of Republican governance failed at a performance level," he stated. Regarding Democrats, he said "They are trapped into a world that is a fantasy." And on the current state of national government, Gingrich's theme was blunt. "Red versus Blue," he said, is a "maniacally dumb idea."

In a room filled by young college Republicans, Gingrich pushed for "new dialogue" that doesn't come from the right or the left. The concluding comments from the self-proclaimed lifelong Republican evidenced this new dialogue. "None of you," he stated, "should believe we are winning this war. There is no evidence we are winning this war." Criticizing both parties, Gingrich called for "leaders who are prepared to tell the truth." Otherwise, he said, "there's no purpose to having a free society." — Whitney Smith

Huckabee Gets Clubbed: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is among the second-tier Republican hopefuls seeking a boost from a strong finish in the upcoming Iowa Straw Poll. But now, he's got more than the other candidates to worry about — the anti-tax Club For Growth has targeted him in a new ad airing in Iowa.

The vaudeville-style piece asks viewers which governor from Hope, Ark., was responsible for higher taxes on groceries and gas and a sales tax increase. The answer? Not Bill Clinton, but Huckabee. The ad then brands Huckabee with that most-hated of labels: a "tax-and-spend liberal."

The ad is the first by the Club For Growth — controversial for its willingness to target Republicans as well as Democrats — since the 2006 elections. Do they see Huckabee as enough of a threat to merit the ad buy? If so, it seems the campaign doesn't mind. In a statement, campaign manager Chip Saltsman said he took the ad as a compliment. "When you go hunting, you aim for a trophy buck – not a dead animal," he said. "We are flattered that the Club for Growth is recognizing the same momentum for our campaign that we are, but saddened that they have again decided to shoot blanks instead of bullets by trotting out the same reckless and thoroughly discredited attacks that responsible journalists have repeatedly rebuffed." — David Miller

From First Class to Coach: Everyone closely watching the race for the Republican nomination knows that Sen. John McCain has had some money problems lately. Yet on TV, he looks much like the same old McCain, delivering speeches before crowds in New Hampshire and attending GOP debates. But an Associated Press profile of McCain shows what it's really like to campaign on the cheap.

The campaign has ditched private jets; McCain is now flying commercial and carrying his own luggage. The fabled Straight Talk Express bus has been sent back to the garage in exchange for transportation provided by volunteers. And when McCain travels, it's by himself — no aides in sight.

Such changes affect more than the campaign's aesthetics. They also can create logistical difficulties. McCain missed a Pittsburgh fundraising breakfast due to a flight cancellation and ended up calling into the event via speakerphone.

The good news for McCain's is that he's still better off than John Kerry was at one point in 2003, when, at least according to former aide Bob Shrum, they rode around in a bus with a hole in the floor — and still ended up winning the Democratic nomination. — David Miller

Brownback's New… Girl? After Obama Girl, Hot4Hill and Giuliani Girl, it wouldn't surprise anyone to see yet another scantily-clad beauty professing her love for a presidential candidate. But that's not exactly what we have in the case of Brownback Girl, a creation of Wichita comedian Bucky Walters and the Opinion page staff of The Wichita Eagle.

Borrowing heavily from Dana Carvey's "Saturday Night Live" Church Lady character, Walters sings an ode to Brownback to the tune of Madonna's "Material Girl." Dancing around a church in orthopedic shoes, Walters says: "The senator from the state of the Kansas is Mr. Religious Right" and that Brownback "loves stem cells, wants gays in jail … well isn't that special, to me."

Now that the "candidate girl" fad has gotten so big that it's being parodied, perhaps that means it's nearing its demise. We can only hope. — David Miller

Editor's note: Pure Horserace is a daily update of political news as interpreted by the political observers at CBSNews.com. Click here to sign up for the e-mail version.

By Vaughn Ververs, David Miller and Whitney Smith