Rudy Asks for Family Privacy

The media ran with the story of Rudy Giuliani's son Andrew and their apparent falling out, and Rudy is asking for some privacy:

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani asked for privacy Monday to deal with strained relationships within his family, and defended his wife as a "very loving and caring" mother and stepmother.

The Republican presidential candidate came to Southern California to speak with sheriffs about gang violence, but found himself answering questions about his family after his son, Andrew, publicly said their relationship had become distant after Giuliani's messy divorce from Andrew's mother, Donna Hanover, and his later marriage to Judith Nathan.

"My wife Judith is a very loving and caring ... mother and stepmother. She has done everything she can. The responsibility is mine," Giuliani told reporters gathered outside the Los Angeles County Sheriff's headquarters.

"I believe that these problems with blended families, you know, are challenges -- sometimes they are," he said. "The more privacy I can have for my family, the better we are going to be able to deal with all these difficulties."

Family issues are going to be one of the bugaboos for the Giuliani campaign, as with three wives and two messy divorces, there's plenty of fodder for scandal. However, Rudy isn't the first GOP candidate to have to deal with estranged adult children. As one talking head on CNN said this afternoon (I heard it while waiting for my car to be washed) "Ronald Reagan broke the sound barrier on the blended family issue". As you may recall, Reagan did not have a very good relationship with either Ron or Patti, though it didn't seem to harm his presidential aspirations.

Unless Rudy's kids come out and actively campaign against him, I can't imagine it will be that much of an issue to most voters.