Lots of Rudy news from this weekend. Let’s start off with The Politico’s accusations of Rudy’s “prickliness”:

Mark Barabak of the LA Times, reporting from New Hampshire, neatly encapsulates through one anecdote an element of Team Rudy that will probably have to give.

“But Giuliani’s famously prickly style could be a problem. New Hampshire voters expect a highly personal touch, not the kind of imperious display the Giuliani camp put on Saturday. As the ex-mayor was being swept into an SUV outside the Palace Theatre, a man pushed his way forward and threw an arm over Giuliani’s shoulder, posing for a picture. A burly security guard lifted the man’s arm off, like a piece of bad meat.”

To be fair, Giuiani’s team was dealing with a significant amount of reporters and cameras following their candidate and wanted to retain some degree of order. Still, the staff and security cordon around Rudy is something that won’t be looked fondly upon by Iowa and New Hampshire voters used to having free and easy access at visiting presidential hopefuls. It will be interesting to see if they ease up on the entourage as the press herd lessens on Hizzoner’s second, third and fourth trip.

I have personally attended not one, but two events headlined by Rudy. The two events were held months apart and in different states. On both occasions, Hizzoner was charming, affable, and accessable to everyone in attendance. Rudy did not leave until every hand was shaken, every picture taken, and every autograph signed.

Does Hizzoner look like someone averse to mingling with his admirers?

Next up, Philip Klein of the American Spectator details Rudy’s appearance in New Hampshire:

I spent Saturday in Manchester, NH where Rudy Giuliani was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Republican State Committee. I plan to write a longer piece on this for our main website on Monday, so I don’t want to go into too much detail here. But the bottom line is that the speech was very well received, and after speaking extensively to NH Republican activists, it became clear to me that the primary is very much in play for Rudy, and social issues, while an obstacle, will not be a deal breaker for him here. The closest thing I found to a consensus view was that it’s very early, voters want to get to know each of the candidates a lot better before making a decision, but the door is definitely open for Giuliani. It also became clearer that Rudy is unlikely to flip flop on social issues, emphasizing the things that Republicans agree on –fiscal discipline, cutting taxes, personal responsibility, national defense, staying on offense against terrorism. He acknowledged that conservative voters may not agree with him on every issue, but nobody agrees with any candidate 100 percent of the time. He also sounded very much like a candidate, saying, “when I promise you things, if I do, when I do, as I do, I’ll promise them because I’ve done them before,” and then boasting about his accomplishments as mayor.

And Finally, George Will gave his assessment of Hizzoner on ABC’s This Week:

“Let me — let me make the case for Giuliani. Just — you can argue as indeed I have so argued that his eight years as mayor of New York were the most successful episode of conservative governance in this country in the last 50 years, on welfare and crime particularly.”

Don’t forget that you can still catch Rudy’s New Hampshire appearance on C-Span starting at 12:30am Eastern.