News Roundup 12/20/07

Seems like after several days of downers for us Huckabee supporters, there is a flood of good news and good press today. Here's a sampling of Huckabee in the news!

Pat Buchanan seems to think the the race is down to two competitors...Huckabee and Romney. He believes that winning Iowa will all but seal the deal for Huckabee, and that Rudy and Fred are essential done. Here's a bit from the article:

"So, two weeks out from Iowa, here are the odds.

Rudy and Thompson each 20-1. John McCain 6-1. He has to win New Hampshire, and even if he wins there, he would be an underdog. Grass-roots conservatives do not like him and would prefer Huckabee.

Mitt Romney 3-2. If he wins Iowa, he is almost unstoppable. If he loses Iowa, he has to come back and beat McCain in New Hampshire. Then it would a Mitt-Mike race through Feb. 5.

And Huckabee? He has to win Iowa. If he does, he will be the favorite in South Carolina and for the nomination, as well."

Michael Reagan, scion of the Great Communicator himself, is generally good for a nice word about Huckabee as well. Today is no different as he compliments the campaign on some smart strategies. He compliments the campaign for the brilliant Christmas ad that every pundit on TV has played a million times, giving Huckabee priceless advertising at no cost to him.

"In addition to seeing Mike Huckabee suddenly surge in the polls, the nation is also witnessing some of the smartest campaign strategies any candidate has displayed in a long time. The former Arkansas governor has shown he can play the game with the best of them, and better than most."

A slew of new polls look good for Huckabee, too.

National Polls

Rasmussen Daily Tracking: Huckabee 21%, McCain/Romney 15%, Giuliani 13% (ouch!)

Fox News National: Giuliani 20%, Huckabee 19%, McCain 19%, Romney 11%

NBC/WSJ National: Giuliani 20%, Romney 20%, Huckabee 17%, McCain 14%

Note: National polls really don't mean too much at this point, so don't get too excited either way. However, the most important thing to note is that Giuliani's fall and Huckabee's rise is not just limited to the early states. As many predicted, once the Republican electorate got serious about their nominee, Giuliani's support would evaporate.

Early State Polls

Strategic Vision Iowa: Huckabee 31%, Romney 25%, Thompson 16%

ABC/WaPo Iowa: Huckabee 35%, Romney 27% (Look at the internals on this one...Huckabee is pulling over 40% of women, 57% of evangelicals and 42% of conservatives)

CNN Iowa: Huckabee 33%, Romney 25%, Giuliani 11%

Survey USA/Live 5 News SC: Huckabee 28%, Romney 18%, McCain 16%, Thompson 15%
The SC poll also has Huckabee ahead as the best candidate on immigration...so much for your commercials and mailers, Mitt...

CBS News SC: Huckabee 28%, Romney 20%, Giuliani 12%, McCain 11%

CNN New Hampshire: Romney 34%, McCain 22%, Giuliani 16%, Huckabee 10%
You might say, "Why put this negative poll in the midst of the good ones?" Well, just watch McCain...other polls have him within a point or two of Romney. If Huckabee wins IA and McCain squeaks by Romney here, then Romney might just be through. Giuliani is dropping like a rock here and a strong third for Huckabee would be a good finish. Oh, and Romney's home conservative newspaper just endorsed McCain...whoops!

EPIC-MRA Michigan: Romney 21%, Huckabee 19%, Giuliani 12%, McCain 10%
Big news here is that Huckabee is now within the margin of error for the lead in Michigan and Giuliani has dropped a whopping 16 points since the last poll. Couple a MI win with an IA win for Huckabee and it will be very hard for Romney to recover to win SC. Remember, his dad was governor of Michigan in the 60s and ran for president himself until a foolish remark regarding Vietnam dashed his hopes. This is practically a second home state for Mitt...he's gotta win here.

Finally we end with California, which is a Super Tuesday state and one of the ones that Giuliani was banking on to help him recover from losing possibly every single January contest. He might want to look in his rearview mirror...methinks I see the Huckabus on the horizon...

The Field Poll California: Giuliani 25%, Huckabee 17%, Romney 15%, McCain 12%
Huckabee has gained 13 points in the last two months in California...and the state is not winner-take-all so even a strong second place would give Huckabee valuable delegates. But also, we Republicans tend to like to back the perceived frontrunner, so by the time Super Tuesday gets here, whoever can rack up the most wins just might jump ahead everywhere.