I spent a few minutes on the phone this morning with former Solicitor General Ted Olson who is down in South Carolina doing some pre-debate spinning on behalf of Rudy Giuliani. Here are some excerpts from our conversation:

On why Giuliani won't say Roe was wrongly decided:

Olson: He has expressed concerns about abortion, he's made himself very clear on the subject. But the only thing a president can do with respect to this issue is to appoint responsible individuals like Chief Justice Roberts, or Sam Alito or Clarence Thomas or Justice Scalia.

On whether Giuliani's unwillingness to voice an opinion on Roe undermines his claim that he will appoint strict constructionist judges:

Olson: As a matter of fact, both Chief Justice Roberts and Sam Alito addressed that question. I think we would both agree, and most people would agree, that those 2 individuals are strict constructionist judges that are conservatives. And they both stated and testified under oath during the hearings that they would approach that decision like they would approach other decisions: they'd look at the reasoning of the decision, they'd look at the effect of the precedent -- how long it's been in existence -- the rules that the court follows with respect to overturning precedents, and they both said during those hearings again and again and again that they wouldn't promise that they would overturn Roe v. Wade. So there's no guarantee that a conservative jurist would decide a certain case a certain way, especially if it's been around for a number of years.

We may feel strongly that they would approach Roe v. Wade and its very convoluted and unacceptable reasoning and decide that it was the wrong decision and wrong to take that out of the hands of the people and their elected representatives. But they both said, and i think most people would say, if they're conservative, that I'm not going to decide the case before I decide the case.

On whether it's fair to scrutinize Rudy's judicial appointees as Mayor of New York City as an indicator of his judgment:

Olson: It's fair, but the context in which all that took place was they were family court judges and municipal court judges. You're looking for utterly different people. You're looking for problem solvers, and you're looking at that in the context in which you had to get people appointed -- 90% or so Democratic council and political system in which he had to operate there. I think it's a fair question to ask, but I think it's utterly and completely distinguishable situation.

On Olson's confidence in Rudy's judgment with respect to judicial appointees:

Olson: I've known Rudy for 25 years. He was with me -- or I was with him -- in the top levels of the Justice Department during the Reagan administration. And we were looking at the qualities of federal judicial appointees in the same way then as I'm confident he would look at them today, which is to find people like Bob Bork, or Justice Scalia, or Clarence Thomas who would be conservatives.

On whether the unpredictable nature of trying to project future behavior of Supreme Court nominees (i.e. Bush 41 appointing both Thomas and Souter) over the course of recent history helps or hurts Giuliani's case:

Olson: I don't think it makes it either stronger or is hurtful. What our recent experience has shown is that you don't make political compromises when you make those appointments. You've got to find the people that have the right qualities and have a record of demonstrating that they have the right way of looking at and making judicial decisions. But on top of that, in order to be confirmed they've got to be exceedingly well qualified people. In Chief Justice Roberts and Sam Alito, President George W. Bush found people that were demonstrably conservative, strict constructionist judges mindful of the proper respect for the role of the judiciary, but also had outstanding records in every way.

Olson said he's been working with Giuliani with debate prep, but when the question arises, as it inevitably will, expect to see Giuliani reprise language from his speech in Houston and his performance last Sunday with Chris Wallace on FOX News Sunday.