In a Quad-City appearance Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani tried to keep the focus on boosting adoptions, fighting drugs and leadership.

What he tried not to talk so much about was his personal life.

Giuliani, who was on his second extended trip through the state, told people at a town hall meeting in Bettendorf that, while the mayor of New York City, the number of abortions had been cut and adoptions went up. And he said he would work to achieve the same as president.

“We can find common ground. And the common ground is almost everyone would like to see abortion go down,” Giuliani, who supports abortion rights, said.

Giuliani also faced questions aimed at eliciting some of his personal side, queries he mostly sidestepped.

For a second day, reporters quizzed him about his daughter’s Facebook profile that lists her as a member of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s Facebook group. He declined to talk about it.

Giuliani, who has been married three times, also got a question at the town hall from Tom Fritzsche of Davenport, who asked whether he still considered himself a “traditional, practicing Catholic.”

Giuliani demurred.

“My religious affiliation, my religious practices and the degree to which I am a good or not-so-good Catholic, I prefer to tell a priest, if you don’t mind,” Giuliani said Tuesday. “That’s a personal discussion.”

He added there shouldn’t be a “religious test” for candidates, eliciting applause.

The answer was similar to one he gave Sunday during a Republican debate in Des Moines, when the candidates were asked about their biggest mistake.

Fritzsche, a registered Democrat, has asked a similar question — including a second part about how candidates would appeal to Catholic voters — of other presidential hopefuls. Giuliani said he wouldn’t seek to appeal to Catholics any different from his approach to people of any other faith.

The New Yorker won praise from some people in the audience, including one man who said he’s tired of hearing candidates talk negatively about one another.

“It’s nice to hear a politician talk about substance,” said Doug Peyton, of Bettendorf.

Not all were as accommodating, though.

A woman asked why Giuliani had allowed New York City to become a haven for illegal immigrants.

Giuliani disputed the characterization.

“That’s just a political charge from opponents that is totally untrue,” he said.

The ex-mayor, who has made national security the centerpiece of his campaign, continued to hammer Democrats for their approach to the Iraq War, calling it a retreat to a defensive position, and he praised President Bush, calling him “strong” and “tough.”

Giuliani’s focus on reducing abortions and boosting adoptions was part of a message that included fighting illegal drugs, including methamphetamine.

The former mayor met with Quad-City drug enforcement officials Tuesday and said he’d likely seek more funding for those efforts if he’s elected. He also praised former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Democrat, and the state Legislature for passing a law aimed at curbing meth use.

Giuliani isn’t participating in this Saturday’s GOP straw poll — although he’s on the ballot — but he said Tuesday he intends to campaign hard in the state in order to win the Jan. 14, 2008, caucuses.

In addition to the town hall in Bettendorf, Giuliani was scheduled to make stops in Clinton, Maquoketa and Dubuque Tuesday.

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.