Indianola, Iowa -- An affable manner and wisecracking style helped Mike Huckabee vault to the top of the Republican presidential field. But the power of his counterpunch might determine whether he's still there after this week's Iowa caucuses.
With the first voter test of the 2008 campaign just three days away, Huckabee is scrambling to stop Mitt Romney from overtaking him as a tight caucus contest grows intensely personal. He's striking back after weeks of attacks on his record as Arkansas governor from a variety of critics, led by Romney, while also confronting new questions about his lack of foreign policy experience.
Yesterday, he scrapped his only Iowa campaign stop to film a new round of TV ads. His national campaign chairman, Ed Rollins, has signaled that Huckabee would respond to Romney in new commercials if it was clear that he was slipping, though a campaign spokeswoman would not confirm whether the new ads take on Romney directly.
At times, Huckabee has sounded almost resentful as he tries to hold off Romney, a wealthy venture capitalist and former Massachusetts governor.
"I did not grow up privileged. I did not grow up with a last name that opened the door. In fact, my last name probably closed a few," Huckabee told voters here over the weekend. "Never in my life did I ever remember somebody asking my dad would he be willing to come out and endorse a candidate. Because they didn't think that his opinion mattered. He was just a working guy that worked two jobs."
Romney, whose father ran one of Detroit's automakers and became Michigan's governor, is outspending all other Republicans in Iowa. Much of that money has gone into negative TV ads and mail pieces against Huckabee.
"Mitt Romney's every day flooding your television sets telling you that I'm a bum," Huckabee said at a campaign event on Saturday. A conservative group, the Club for Growth, is also filling the airwaves with commercials that call Huckabee a big spender and criticize his support for raising taxes as governor. Unable to resist a punchline, even with his candidacy on the line, Huckabee joked, "I could have saved those guys a lot of money. My wife [would] tell you for free, `I'm a bum.' "
Huckabee said he had to defend himself against what he called "off-the-charts" accusations by his critics, including Romney, who has repeatedly attacked him for granting commutations and pardons to felons in Arkansas, including 12 murderers. Huckabee has tried to turn the issue back on Romney, accusing him of rejecting valid claims for pardons in Massachusetts in order to protect himself against political attacks.
