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San Francisco, CA — Despite the latest national polls now showing Mike Huckabee in a tie with Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor says he does not feel Huckabee is a “threat” to his campaign.

Giuliani acknowledged that Huckabee has “gained quite a bit” in the polls, but said he does not feel any additional pressure from the former Arkansas Governor or any other GOP rivals, reiterating that he is the strongest candidate on fiscal and national security issues.

“I don’t see any of the other candidates as a threat to my campaign. My campaign is my campaign. I have got to reach out to Republican voters. Whether it’s Mike Hucakabee or someone else. There will always be competitors and it’s my job to convince the Republican party that I would be the most electable Republican,” Giuliani said during a quick stop in San Francisco today. “My fiscal conservatism and my ability to keep us on offense against terrorism make me the right man in the right place.”

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San Francisco, CA — Rudy Giuliani is calling for an investigation into the CIA destruction of interrogation tapes because it could have been done “deliberately.”

“There can be an explanation for it. It can be something that was done in the normal course, it can be something that was done by mistake, it could be something that was done deliberately. And that is why the Justice Department has to investigate it. And we shouldn’t be drawing conclusions about it,” he said during a stop at Mel’s Drive-In in downtown San Francisco.

Last week, we learned that the CIA had videotaped and then later destroyed the tapes of interrogations of at least two terrorism suspects from 2002. A number of Senators and Reps. on both sides of the aisle are also calling for an investigation, though some Democrats believe an objective outside investigator needs to be appointed to delve into the issue. Giuliani disagreed, saying today that the Justice Department is the most appropriate arm of government to be conducting the investigation.

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San Francisco, CA – Haven’t seen much of Rudy Giuliani in recent weeks? Well neither have we—at least compared to some of his opponents (save Fred Thompson) who hold between five and seven events a day in New Hampshire and Iowa .

By comparison, the former New York City mayor has been participating in only one or two public events a day. One of Giuliani’s major priorities this month is raising the millions of dollars necessary to compete in Florida, the nearly two dozen February 5 primary states and go up against the personal fortune of rival Mitt Romney. We are here in California for the next two days where he will hold only two public events but plans to attend numerous private fundraisers. Now is crunch time for Hizzoner since there will be little time to fundraise once Christmas rolls around and he starts campaigning around the clock.

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Buffalo Grove, IL — While presidential candidates typically make multiple stops a day at diners on the campaign trail where it is a must to try local cuisine, a number of the 2008 hopefuls also happen to be on diets. How is that working out for them?

Using our new Streambox technology, I appeared on Weekend Live today to discuss the candidates’ eating habits from a Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria in the Chicago area–known for it’s famous deep dish pizza.

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Sarasota, FL — A quick roundup of Giuliani’s Florida trip Thursday. Topics: Florida Primary, the recent Iran National Intelligence Estimate and Mitt Romney’s speech.

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Sarasota, FL — Calling the U.S. a country of “toleration,” Rudy Giuliani today praised his rival, Mitt Romney, for his speech on faith, saying that he agrees with everything he heard in Romney’s speech and believes the former Massachusetts governor put any questions about his faith “to rest.”

“I thought Governor Romney said everything I agree with. I guess it’d be better if he didn’t have to do that….he did what he thought he had to do….you would wish that everybody would move beyond that,” Giuliani said. “I believe his talk helped to put that issue to rest. There is no religious test for office. There shouldn’t be a religious test for office.”

Giuliani made the comments after receiving an endorsement from the 10-13 Association (an organization of retired NYPD officers) as part of a quick campaign swing through the Sunshine State.

“We are a country of toleration. We are a country that was built on religious freedom. And we are country..in which we respect each other’s right to have different views about religion, about God, about belief in God and how we all look at it,” he added. “I think the Governor made that point very clearly today. I can’t imagine anybody disagreeing with that.”

Romney gave his much-anticipated speech on his Mormon faith earlier today in Texas. (More here)

Pushing his get-tough national security views, Rudy Giuliani’s latest television ad–set to hit New Hampshire airwaves this week–pays homage to Ronald Reagan’s dealing with the Iranian hostage crisis.

In the ad, Giuliani attributes the Iranian decision to release the American captives within hours of Reagan’s 1981 presidential inauguration to the Gipper’s strong hand when it came to foreign policy.

“The best way you deal with dictators, the best way you deal with tyrants and terrorists, you stand up to them. You don’t back down,” Giuliani says, noting that the Iranian government held the Americans for 444 days. “They released the American hostages in one hour, and that should tell us a lot about these Islamic terrorists that we’re facing. The one hour in which they released them was the one hour in which Ronald Reagan was taking the Oath of Office as President of the United States.”

The Republican front-runner often lauds Reagan’s foreign policy on the stump–praising his policies towards Iran and the Soviets–and argues that if he takes office, he also intends to increase and project U.S. military strength.

Of course, Giuliani is glossing over a bit of history in the ad since the Iranian decision to release the hostages after Reagan took the oath of office, was more intended to diss President Carter rather than show any fear of Reagan.

Giuliani first four TV ads have mostly focused on his New York City mayoral accomplishments and this is the first that cuts to the heart of his main electoral argument—staying on offense against terrorism and keeping America safe.

Rudy Giuliani has officially stepped down as head of his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, which has come under scrutiny in recent months for representing a number of controversial clients–including some with links to terror. He was the only 2008 presidential candidate to continue running a private business while running for office.

While campaign aides say the former New York City mayor has not been closely involved with the firm since the spring, Giuliani has been asked about the firm for months—repeatedly refusing to reveal it’s client list. In April, he told reporters that he was “largely out of it, and I’m pretty much going to be out of it at some point pretty soon.”

He has been replaced as chairman by longtime friend, Peter Powers.

“Mayor Giuliani has had no day to day involvement in (Giuliani Partners) since June. He continues to focus on his campaign for the presidency. He remains an equity partner in the firm and does not receive a salary,” said Sunny Mindel, a firm spokeswoman.

Despite insisting on not revealing the firm’s customers, the press has reported on a number of the clients in recent months. Among the clients represented by the firm include an Ethiopian group pushing legislation that the Bush administration considered a threat to counterterrorism efforts, and the Middle Eastern country of Qatar, which was accused of sheltering 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Asked whether he would release the firm’s clients most recently at a November 20 appearance in Chicago, Giuliani joked that the media had already figured out all the clients with “one or two exceptions”

“Certainly every major one is known, there is no big secret about that,” he said. “But the reason you can’t do that is because you have confidentiality agreements with clients. But somehow I think you, being the press in general, have been successful in discovering. I’d have to check if its every client, but just about every single client of Giuliani Partners. You’d have to check with them.”

Governor Romney fired his lawn care company today. He made the move in advance of a Boston Globe story reporting that, despite a year’s worth of controversy, the company continues to hire illegal immigrants to work on Romney’s lawn. Romney has a tough illegal immigration policy that he touts every day on the trail, but he gave the lawn company he uses for his Belmont home a second chance after it was revealed that illegals were working on his lawn last year. The Romney camp issued a statement from the former Massachusetts Governor saying he had terminated his lawn company today:

“After this same issue arose last year, I gave the company a second chance
 with very specific conditions. They were instructed to make sure people
 working for the company were of legal status,” the former Massachusetts
 governor said in a statement. “We personally met with the company in order
to inform them about the importance of this matter. The owner of the
 company guaranteed us, in very certain terms, that the company would be in
total compliance with the law going forward.

We personally met with the company in order 
to inform them about the importance of this matter. The owner of the
 company guaranteed us, in very certain terms, that the company would be in
 total compliance with the law going forward.”

Romney’s defense has always been that he hired the company, not the individual workers and that he can’t go up to every worker and ask to see their documents.

Romney was campaigning in New Hampshire today and said the very first thing he would do on the immigration issue if he was elected would be to build a border fence. Republican rivals have already started to attack Romney. Thompson’s campaign has put out a statement saying, “First Mitt Romney was FOR illegal immigrants working on his lawn, and then he was against it, then for it, and now I guess he’s against it again. Sounds like his position on amnesty.”

At the Republican debate last week Rudy Giuliani attacked Romney on this very topic and the Governor denied having illegal immigrants work on his lawn:

GIULIANI: You did have illegal immigrants working at your mansion, didn’t you?

ROMNEY: No, I did not, so let’s just talk about that. Are you suggesting, Mr. Mayor — because I think it is really kind of offensive actually to suggest, to say look, you know what, if you are a homeowner and you hire a company to come provide a service at your home — paint the home, put on the roof. If you hear someone that is working out there, not that you have employed, but that the company has.
ROMNEY: If you hear someone with a funny accent, you, as a homeowner, are supposed to go out there and say, “I want to see your papers. Is that what you’re suggesting?”

This scandal is in advance of Romney’s “Faith in America” speech on Thursday, arguably the biggest moment in his campaign so far.

UPDATE: Giuliani communications director Katie Levinson on the Romney statement: “I think it speaks for itself.”

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Greensboro, NC — Rudy Giuliani usually lambastes Democrats for advocating retreat and defeat from Iraq but today took a moment to praise a rival for admitting that the surge is making progress.

“One of the Democratic congressman just recently returned from Iraq and he said something suggesting that the surge in Iraq is working. Now this is someone who had been a critic of the surge–had said that it wasn’t working before and had said that he didn’t think it could work so I reallly commend him and his honesty and candor in going there and–at least on that one aspect–changing his mind,” Giuliani said during a speech to North Carolina women’s group.

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), a usually vocal critic of the war, told reporters Thursday, “I think the surge is working,” but did temper his praise by adding that the U.S. is still failing diplomatically in Iraq. For his part, Giuliani focused on Murtha’s first comment.

“It seems to be pretty obvious now that what a lot of people thought was impossible four or five months ago now seems to be working better,” Giuliani said.

Giuliani also praised Murtha in interviews this morning with radio stations in a number of primary states (NH, IA, SC, FL), according to a campaign aide.