 |
| Hunt: 'It has everything to do with running for president,' said GOP contender Mike Huckabee to the press before pheasant
hunting Dec. 26 in Iowa. Andy Nelson - staff |
Before Iowa caucuses, candidates scramble
With a week before the first test of the primary season, presidential candidates are pulling out all the stops.
By Ariel Sabar | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the December 28, 2007 edition
Page 1 of 2
OSCEOLA, Iowa - On the frozen morning after Christmas, Mike Huckabee waded into the knee-high grasses here and raised his camouflage 12-gauge shotgun toward a pheasant.
A blast cracked across the icy hills of this southern Iowa farm town. It might as well have been the starting gun for the sprint to caucus night. With a week until the first major test of the primary season, presidential candidates returned to the campaign trail after the holiday with guns blazing – turning up their rhetoric, launching new ads, and striking an increasingly bellicose tone.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney lashed out at Sen. John McCain over his immigration record, while Senator McCain accused Mr. Romney of flip-flopping. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York issued a statement titled "I've Switched to Hillary," about a former Barack Obama supporter in Iowa who had changed allegiances. Senator Obama fired back with one about a former Clinton supporter now backing him.
And in leading reporters across a field in hunter's orange, Mr. Huckabee was taking a jab at Romney, who has drawn criticism for overstating his hunting experience and falsely claiming earlier this month that he had been endorsed as a gubernatorial candidate by the National Rifle Association (NRA).
"It has everything to do with running for president," Huckabee said of hunting before heading into the switchgrass with an NRA official. "You prove that you can shoot, and if somebody really messes with you with negative campaign ads, they just need to be prepared."
The Romney campaign had aired ads in Iowa this month attacking Huckabee on illegal immigration. After laying three dead pheasants in the snow, Huckabee joked, "Don't get in my way. This is what happens."
The home stretch before the Jan. 3 caucuses could prove pivotal in what remains an open race. Clinton and Obama are neck and neck in recent polls of Democratic caucusgoers, with former Sen. John Edwards close behind. Among Republicans, Huckabee has maintained a narrow edge over Romney, who has seen a comfortable lead dry up in recent weeks.
Analysts say the Iowa contest carries the greatest significance for Mr. Edwards, who has been campaigning in the state since the 2004 primaries and who would be unlikely to outlast anything short of a first-place finish.
RSS feed
