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Huckabee denies coalition to oust Romney Monday, Jan 7, 2008 By Aaron Sadler Stephens Washington Bureau MANCHESTER, N.H. - Mike Huckabee brushed off suggestions Sunday that he and Sen. John McCain had joined together to force Mitt Romney out of the Republican presidential race. Fresh off his surprising victory in last week's Iowa caucuses, Huckabee disavowed a remark attributed to his national campaign chairman that the Arkansan and McCain were "going to see if we can't take Romney out." In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Huckabee denied plotting with the McCain camp to oust Romney, who was Huckabee's top rival in Iowa. Romney, former Massachusetts governor, trails McCain in polls released Saturday ahead of New Hampshire's Tuesday primary. Huckabee was vying with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for third. Back-to-back losses would significantly weaken Romney, who was the front-runner in Iowa until early December. But Huckabee said he had to rein in campaign chairman Ed Rollins after the comments about an alliance with McCain. "It's not that we're conspiring with John McCain," Huckabee said, later adding that "I do think that it's kind of created a brotherhood here. I would not deny that, because we've been the recipients of millions of dollars - millions of dollars - worth of negative ads." Romney's ads in Iowa ripped Huckabee over his stands on taxes, crime and immigration. McCain is Romney's target in New Hampshire. "We have both been brutally assaulted by Gov. Romney with amazingly misleading ads that attacked and distorted and misrepresented our records," Huckabee said. Polls show McCain and Romney in a tight race for the top spot in the first-in-the-nation primary. Huckabee is either third or fourth, behind former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, in every New Hampshire poll. Despite a slight momentum boost from his Iowa win, Huckabee's support is no higher than 15 percent among Granite State Republicans. Both Huckabee and McCain were on the offensive against Romney in debates this weekend. They were critical of Romney's changed positions on abortions and gun rights. Meanwhile, Huckabee and Romney sparred on Sunday's talk shows over support of the U.S. troop surge strategy in Iraq. Huckabee maintained he supported the surge early on and Romney opposed it. Huckabee pointed to Romney's endorsement of private withdrawal goals and timetables last April. Romney denied ever opposing the troop surge. On ABC's "This Week," moderator George Stephanopoulos cited what he called a "pretty clear contradiction" in Huckabee's views. In a Jan. 24, 2007, interview, Huckabee said: "I'm not sure that I support the troop surge if that surge has to come from our Guard and Reserve troops." Huckabee said that comment was intended to show his opposition to using Arkansas Guard troops to beef up the military. The toll of repeated deployments on the state's citizen soldiers was too strong, he said. Later Sunday, the two battled again over taxes. Romney ripped a net tax increase of $500 million in Arkansas during Huckabee's tenure. Huckabee defended the tax hikes as necessary to improve the state's schools and roads. Also, Huckabee appeared to be looking past New Hampshire. He relied on evangelical Christians for an Iowa win, but New Hampshire voters are more secular. He hopes to cash on evangelical support again in South Carolina on Jan. 19. "If we do third, or even fourth, we're going to be sailing on and we're going to win South Carolina," he said. However, Huckabee said his votes don't only come from Christians who support his family values message. In Iowa, he won among women, young caucus-goers and voters who made less than $100,000. Sixty percent of self-identified evangelicals backed Huckabee in Iowa. "Most of them supported me, but 40 percent didn't," he said. "So it's not like they're all marching in lockstep and I say, 'Hello, I'm an evangelical,' and they all say, 'Praise the Lord and pass the ballot.' I wish it were like that. I'd have won by an even bigger margin." |
