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 20 August 2008 21:06 BST

Late surge for Huckabee

Thursday, 13 Dec 2007 12:01
Mike Huckabee is enjoying a late surge in the polls before the Iowa caucus
Mike Huckabee did his presidential ambitions no harm in yesterday's Republican debate to round off a good fortnight for his campaign.

The former Arksanas governor has surged into serious contention for the Republican presidential nomination in recent weeks, polling second nationally behind ex-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

He has overtaken Mitt Romney as the leading candidate in Iowa, which will be the first state to hold its primary on January 3rd next year.

This lead comes despite being quoted in the New York Times magazine as saying: "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

He admitted he was expecting "blood" in the final Republican presidential debate before the primary season starts, but escaped relatively easily as candidates avoided personal attacks.

Fred Thompson warned "we're bankrupting the next generation, without any question", Mitt Romney called for trade renegotiations with China and Giuliani was forced into defending his mayoral record but there was little dissent as the festive spirit took hold.

The biggest moment of dispute came when Thompson refused to participate in a show of hands on climate change. Other relieved candidates gratefully fell in behind him.

Huckabee, whose Baptist pastor background is gaining support from Iowa's conservative voters, was left to portray himself as a uniting leader in the Ronald Reagan mode.

"We are right now a very polarised country, and that country has led to a paralysed government," he said.

"We've got Democrats who fight Republicans, liberals fighting conservatives, the left fights the right. Who's fighting for this country again?"End of story


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