DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters):
Republican Mike Huckabee defended a Christian-oriented television advertisement used for his presidential campaign yesterday, as a new poll showed Democrat Barack Obama edging Hillary Clinton in Iowa.
As candidates revved up their campaigns before taking a brief Christmas break, some released advertisements evoking the holiday spirit, including one from Republican Rudy Giuliani that featured Santa Claus.
Republican Mitt Romney, who lost a big lead to Huckabee in Iowa, tried to raise doubts about Huckabee's command over U.S. foreign policy details, days after Huckabee said President George W. Bush has pursued an "arrogant" foreign policy.
Iowa on January 3 starts the state-by-state process to pick the Democratic and Republican candidates who will face off in the presidential election on November 4, 2008. A win in Iowa can generate momentum for the battles to come rapidly afterwards.
Huckabee, who has come out of nowhere to lead Republican polls in Iowa and challenge Giuliani for the lead in national polls, took criticism from Republican candidate Ron Paul on Tuesday for a 'Merry Christmas' advertisement that included a book shelf behind him that looked like a Christian cross.
Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher and former governor of Arkansas, has been playing up his Christian credentials to try to attract as much support as possible from Christian evangelicals in Iowa.
In an interview on NBC's 'Today Show,' Huckabee said he had hoped the ad would change the tone of what he called a negative campaign.
"In the harshness of this political campaign, with attack ads and negative stuff coming at us every day, we decided we wanted to do something that showed, 'Hey, folks, life isn't all about politics. Life is also about our family and friends'," Huckabee said.
Constitutional separation
Religion has played a significant role in the Republican race. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, gave a speech two weeks ago in which he said if he wins the election he will observe the U.S. constitutional separation between church and state and not let his Mormon church run the White House.
A Reuters/Zogby poll released yesterday said Huckabee has wiped out an 18-point deficit in one month to pull within one point of Giuliani, 23 per cent to 22 per cent, nationally.
Among Democrats, Clinton's national advantage over Illinois Senator Obama shrunk slightly to eight percentage points as the races for the White House tightened in both parties. Clinton had an 11-point edge last month.
While Clinton leads national polls on the Democratic side, all eyes are on a tight three-way race in Iowa between her, Obama and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll said 33 per cent of Iowans planning to participate in the state's January 3 contest support Obama, compared to 29 per cent for Clinton and 20 per cent for Edwards.
The poll comes amid a five-day tour of Iowa by Clinton, the former first lady and current New York senator seeking to become the first woman U.S. president, to try to warm up her image with personal stories from friends and loyalists.
Giuliani, who was New York mayor during the September 11 attacks, issued a light-hearted Web ad wishing for peace with strength, secure borders against illegal immigration and lower taxes.
"And I really hope that all of the presidential candidates can just get along," he says.
Uniting the people
Red-suited Santa Claus chimes in: "Ho, ho, ho. I was with you right up until that last one."
Obama's holiday ad featured him, wife Michelle and their two children in front of a Christmas tree with a message that highlights "the things that unite us as a people."
Romney's campaign, already on the attack against Huckabee over what it calls a lax policy toward illegal immigrants in Arkansas, said Huckabee's criticism of Bush's foreign policy sounds more like what would be expected from the Democrats.
"Mike Huckabee's inexperience and lack of strength in foreign policy is no laughing matter," said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden.
