Romney vs. Huckabee

Andrew Sullivan had this post yesterday:

In South Carolina, Huckabee has gone from 5 percent to 18 percent in a month. Romney has gone from 29 to 21 percent in the same period. New Hampshire is critical to Romney now. But one gets the feeling that he is sitting atop a souffle. If he loses Iowa, it could drop suddenly. And the South will never vote for a Mormon. That's awful; but it's true.

Here's the Huckster report from the NH Concord Monitor:

His Iowa campaign director says he expects Huckabee to spend 15 to 20 days there leading up to the state's Jan. 3 caucus.

But that doesn't mean the former Arkansas governor has forgotten New Hampshire. Analysts say Huckabee, whose campaign lacks the money of his competitors, is employing one of the oldest strategies in the book: Do well in Iowa, ride the surge to New Hampshire, then take on the nation.

"Ideal (for Huckabee) would be if he can finish first in Iowa, or a very close second, but then not fall off the table entirely in New Hampshire," said Dante Scala, an associate professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire. Then, Scala said, "if he can score in the top four - or even better, in the top three - in New Hampshire, then he'll have a very good first (post-primary) week."

Meanwhile, Romney is starting to attack the Huckster. From The Caucus:

At one forum at a community college on Friday morning, questioners mentioned Mr. Huckabee, who had previously labored in obscurity in the state for months, three different times in the span of just a few minutes.

Mr. Romney’s advisers had mused privately as recently as a few weeks ago how much they should directly engage Mr. Huckabee for fear of legitimizing him.

That fear, still not fully formed back then, has become an undeniable reality for Mr. Romney as recent polls have shown him in essentially a dead heat with Mr. Huckabee among likely caucus-goers, after leading surveys in the state for months.

At a house party sponsored by the Iowa Christian Alliance, a Christian conservative group, in Dubuque, James Bopp, general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee and a surrogate for Mr. Romney, raised the issue of Mr. Huckabee’s candidacy directly.

“I love Mike Huckabee,” Mr. Bopp said. “He’s great on life. He’s great on family. I’m wondering if he’s a consistent conservative across the board, but one thing I know for sure is he does not have the resources to compete.”

He was referring to Mr. Huckabee’s ability to match up nationally with Rudolph W. Giuliani, a supporter of abortion rights.

“I believe a vote for any other candidate in the Iowa caucuses is a vote for Rudy Giuliani,” said Mr. Bopp. “This is the only man that can stop him from getting the nomination.”

So far, the tone of the back and forth between Mr. Romney and Mr. Huckabee has not taken on the level of rancor that the exchanges between Mr. Romney and Mr. Giuliani have in New Hampshire, where the pair are locked in a close race, along with Senator John McCain.