Posted on 12/01/2007 9:00:38 AM PST by dano1
Republican Mitt Romney, his once-strong leads having evaporated in Iowa and fragile in New Hampshire, faces a dual threat as the first voting nears - Mike Huckabee on the right in Iowa and Rudy Giuliani on the left in the Northeast.
Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, is responding by fiercely assailing Huckabee’s record on immigration and taxes while equating Giuliani with Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Romney said yesterday that Huckabee was guilty of “raising taxes time and again. He raised sales taxes, gasoline taxes, grocery taxes, even taxes on nursing-home beds.” Romney also said again that Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, supported giving in-state tuition breaks to illegal immigrants.
Turning to Giuliani, the former New York mayor, Romney said, “It would be very difficult for our party to win the White House if our nominee was so similar to Hillary Clinton on abortion, on same-sex civil unions, on guns, on sanctuary cities and on a record of ethical lapses - and I’m referring to the Bernie Kerik matter.”
The twin challenges confronting Romney - and his willingness to confront them in the homestretch - underscore the volatility of the nomination race five weeks before voting begins. He has yet to run negative TV or radio ads; his aides are weighing whether to do so.
“When you take incoming fire day after day, at some point you decide you’re going to return fire,” Romney said. “I do think it’s important in a state like Iowa, where the race is going to be tight, that we talk about the differences between us, and let people choose based upon some of those differences.”
Romney has campaigned hard and spent about $10 million on television ads in Iowa and New Hampshire, hoping to win early and generate enough momentum to secure the nomination. He has had wide leads in both states for months even while trailing better-known rivals in national polls.
In both states, however, he has struggled to counter a perception that he is not sincere in his beliefs, given his reversal on abortion rights - he now opposes them - and his shifts to the right on other issues. Skepticism about his Mormon faith also has proved difficult to overcome.
Now, as Iowa’s Jan. 3 caucuses approach, polls show the race as a statistical dead heat between Romney and Huckabee in the state.
Though far behind Romney in money and organization, Huckabee’s folksy nature, communication skills, and rock-solid positions against abortion, gay marriage and gun control have endeared him to conservatives.
This week, Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist minister, emphasized his religious beliefs in a TV ad in Iowa.
“Faith doesn’t just influence me. It really defines me. I don’t have to wake up every day wondering, what do I need to believe,” Huckabee says in the ad. It does not mention Romney but clearly targets him. “Let us never sacrifice our principles for anybody’s politics. Not now, not ever.”
"I paid for those votes. If they don't vote for me, my (fake) Troopers will arrest them."
Next week he's going to send them all a letter to see if they would like to buy him a house warming gift. LOL
Ha obviously the AP doesn't read FR.
Wow. If Romney is to the left of a big government liberal like Huckabee, he's in the wrong party. But then, Romney WAS elected by the same people who routinely re-elect the likes of Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.
I don’t think Romney would be any less conservative than Bush when it comes to actually governing. But then, that’s the problem.
Bud Light presents: "REAL MEN OF GENIUS"
(Real men of genius)
Today we salute you, Mr. Mike Huckabee paid FR campaign shill!
(Mr. Mike Huckabee paid FR campaign shill)
What does a liberal Republican do when he is afraid to face grass roots conservatives himself? He pays his coffee and errand boy minimum wage to do it for him...
(skim milk with three sweet and lows)
Sitting in a cubicle at campaign headquarters you search Conservative websites like the NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Salon, CNN and Daily Kos looking for favorable articles about the Huckster to post on FR
(oooh, here's one from DU!)
Armed with nothing but talking points from Hucks' website, you attempt to convince conservatives that your candidate is not a Christian socialist or a pro-life Democrat...
(Jesus would want amnesty for illegals)
When FReepers say Huck is a fiscal liberal, algore loving environmental wacko, open border amnesty pusher, nanny state smoker banner you provide the brilliant original response...a link to his campaign website
(copy, paste, copy, paste)
Conservatives? We don't need no stinkin' Conservatives!
(Highly overrated)
All we need is a leftist who is pro-life, has an R next to his name, and talks about Jesus.
(Praise the Lord!)
So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, oh Karl Rove of the blogosphere, because when a FReeper runs for office, we'll be calling you...
(Mr. Mike Huckabee paid FR campaign shill)
Bud Light beer. Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, Missouri.
Giuliani, Romney and Huckabee..... the liberal, liberal centrist and liberal moderate, respectively.
Not a true conservative in the bunch!
GO FRED GO!!!
BINGO! We have a winner! 
I'm sure the author believes George W. Bush is the embodiment of conservatism, too.
Go Mitt Go!!! LOL
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