TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Huckabee Leads, But Iowans Still Uncertain

ADVERTISEMENT

By LIBBY QUAID, The Associated Press

Published: December 26, 2007

SIOUX CITY, Iowa - Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee seems to be the answer to their prayers, yet for many Christian conservatives in Iowa, he has not closed a deal for the Republican caucuses.

Do they still like Mitt Romney? Does Fred Thompson intrigue them? Voter uncertainty comes with the Jan. 3 caucuses, just a week away.

Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, is leading in Republican polls here, but his advantage has narrowed. Perhaps, that's in part because of the negative TV commercials that Romney is airing.

"I think I'm leaning toward Governor Huckabee," said Lori Brown, who works at a Sheldon accounting firm. "I guess I'm not sure who else I really like. But he seems to be just a real guy. I'm a Christian, too, so I see eye-to-eye with him.

"At this point."

On Huckabee's final swing through Iowa before Christmas, many found him funny and charming, especially when he borrowed a bass guitar to play "Takin' Care of Business" in a high school auditorium.

"I thought he did a good job of emotionally connecting," said Michael Andres, a college theology professor in Orange City. Andres is "warming to Huckabee," but he is also interested in Arizona Sen. John McCain among Republicans and in Illinois Sen. Barack Obama among Democrats.

"I didn't know if there was a whole lot of substance," Andres said of Huckabee. "He didn't explain what he was going to do. I felt like he spent a lot of time separating himself from Romney."

Huckabee is responding to criticism from Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who has flooded people's mailboxes, telephones and televisions with negative information about the former Arkansas governor's record on immigration and other issues. Romney has spent millions of dollars pumping up his own profile and organizing supporters.

Huckabee tells audiences he is being outspent 20-1 by Romney. In Orange City, he joked about mailboxes stuffed full of campaign mailings:

"I know you normally look forward to Christmas cards this time of year. This time, you go and - 'Huckabee's a bum, Huckabee's a bum, Huckabee's a bum, Huckabee's a bum.' My wife could've told you that and saved the postage," he said to laughter.

Some of that criticism sticks, though.

Of Romney, retiree Judie Cain of Council Bluffs said, "I like his take on immigration.

"I'm on Social Security now, and I don't like the idea that it's going to immigrants when I paid in it all my life, and they just swam across," Cain said.

In fact, only legal immigrants are entitled to Social Security benefits. Illegal immigrants pay millions a year in Social Security taxes.

"Now, I know Huckabee is probably a good candidate, too, but I don't think he's as intelligent," she said.

Thompson, the "Law & Order" actor and former Tennessee senator, has the most ground to cover because of his late, sluggish entry to the race.

He brought a bus to Iowa for the final two weeks of the campaign, with a short break for Christmas. He hasn't spent as much time as Romney or Huckabee in a state where, because of its first-in-the-nation caucuses, voters insist on face time with candidates.

If people could see him, "I think they would follow right along with him," said Bob Knowler, the county treasurer in Woodbury County, which includes Sioux City. "He tells it like it is. He's a straight talker, and he's got good ideas. I don't know what he needs to do different. I don't know whether starting late is hurting him. I don't know what his problem is. We just know he's not doing well in polls. But how much faith do you put in polls?"

Thompson's main problem seems to be that Huckabee has taken his place as the easygoing, Southern charmer who could make anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, pro-gun voters comfortable, as opposed to Romney, who supported abortion rights before running for president, and Rudy Giuliani, who has supported abortion rights since he became mayor of New York in 1993.

At 52, Huckabee is younger and more energetic than Thompson, 65, and has obvious speaking skills from his years as a preacher.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT