Politico's Jonathan Martin reports that Linda Rozett, communications director for former Senator Fred Thompson's nascent campaign, has been pushed out by campaign manager Bill Lacy, who is searching for someone with more campaign experience.

Rozett follows several other departures, including press secretary Burson Snyder, research director J.T. Mastranadi and would-be campaign manager Tom Collamore. We argued recently that Thompson had or had not waited too long to get in the race, but regardless of those arguments, it's never good when a campaign has to answer questions about process. It's even worse when those questions come, repeatedly, before the campaign has even officially launched.

Both Martin and Marc Ambinder see the move as a strong indication of the power Lacy, the new campaign manager, wields over the organization.

Sources tell numerous outlets that Thompson will announce his campaign September 4th, and that he will participate in his first debate on September 27 at Morgan State University in Baltimore. His first major appearance at a GOP event will be at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference in Michigan around a week earlier.

Meanwhile, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee continues to hint at the possibility of attacking a candidate, though he won't actually needle Thompson, except to say other Republicans are trying to make him "the fifth head on Mount Rushmore."

"I'm not sure [Thompson] could live up to Ronald Reagan's persona and image at this stage," Huckabee said on Fox News Sunday.

In other not-so-great news for a campaign, on Saturday the New York Times led its coverage with an examination of Giuliani's record on his city's budget. Giuliani asserts the NYC budget carried a $2.3 billion deficit when he took over and that the balance sheet showed a multi-billion dollar surplus when he was through. But, according to New York's Independent Budget Office, Giuliani left his successor a $4.8 billion deficit for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2002 budget.

This is the second story in as many weeks that accuses Giuliani of exaggerating his record. Last week Time carried an article scrutinizing Giuliani's record dealing with the threat of terrorism during his tenure as Mayor and found it to be not quite as brilliant as many have been led to believe.

Already at odds with the base of the Republican party on certain key social issues like abortion, gay rights, immigration and gun control, the last thing Giuliani needs heading into the thick of a tough primary battle are press reports accusing him of padding his national security credentials and his ability to turn the budget around. Giuliani leads in national polling (+10.7% in the latest RCP Average), and in South Carolina, Florida and California polls. But he trails former Governor Mitt Romney by wide margins in Iowa and New Hampshire.

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