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New York's Daily News has a front-pager reporting that Judith Giuliani's taxpayer-funded security detail actually began as far back as 1999, well before the earlier-acknowledged Dec. 2000 date, and even before their relationship was publicly disclosed in May 2000.

At first, I wondered whether these stories were to some extent written into Giuliani's numbers, but there's really no other explanation for his recent drop in national polls than this steady stream of stories, which highlight his messy personal life, undermine his message of fiscal discipline by coming accross as reckless with the taxpayers money, and portray him as being covert and dishonest. If you look at the RCP chart, notice the recent nose-dive to 23.6 percent, his lowest numbers since the chart began in February. Coupled with the Huckabee surge, his national lead has narrowed to an average of 7 points. Until the recent decline, his lead had been comfortably in the double digits.

Going forward, the main question is how much more is out there? Is this just the tip of the iceberg, as Giuliani's critics have been saying all along?