More Iowa Stories

It looks like the Right's Field is trying to manage expectations in preparation for the January 3 caucuses. Mike Huckabee could end Mitt Romney's Presidential ambitions right there if he should manage a victory. He's now on the radar screen and his opponents are hitting him over the familiar issue of immigration.

On Fox News on Wednesday, he was asked about a bill he supported as governor that would have granted tuition breaks to the children of illegal immigrants. He suggested that he had only wanted to give such children access to scholarships. In fact, the initial bill he supported did have a scholarship provision. But that provision was later stripped out and was not included in the legislation that Huckabee continued to push.

Ex-Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, still leading in Iowa, has decided that it's time to take the gloves off with regard to Huckabee. Campaigning in Iowa this week, the Associated Press reported, Romney told reporters: "Giving a better deal to the children of illegal aliens than we give to U.S. citizens from surrounding states is simply not fair and not right."

On Fox News, Huckabee responded with a dig at prior reports that Romney had employed groundskeepers who were illegal: "I guess Mitt Romney would rather keep people out of college so they can keep working on his lawn, since he had illegals there."

Not a bad comeback. I thought Huckabee's Chuck Norris facts ad was funny but it's going to confuse the hell out of 70 year-olds in Iowa who aren't familiar with hipster jokes on the Internet. His problem is that, if the immigration issue is as strong in the Republican Party as polls suggest, he's going to have trouble with this stand.

Meanwhile, Rudy donned his farm clothes and visited Iowa once again, and apparently he's blanketing the state with mailers and phone calls and radio ads, trying to maybe move up to third and declare victory. Of course, when one of the most powerful GOP electeds in the state says that your nomination would undermine the Party... that's not a good sign.

Rep. Steve King of Iowa warned today that the conservative underpinnings of the Republican party platform would be "sacrificed" if Rudy Giuliani is the Republican presidential nominee.

King, a leading conservative from western Iowa's heavily Republican 5th District, said that in addition he fears the nomination of Giuliani would spur a third-party candidate on the right who would "sink" GOP chances of winning the White House.

"I don't know anybody else who has spoken publicly about that concern," King said in an interview in his office at the U.S. Capitol. "What's it take to be a spoiler? Not much."

As for Grandpa Freddie, he's attacked Huckabee by calling him "John Edwards in a Republican suit" (what's the cut of a Republican suit? Is it made out of poor people?), but privately, his Congressional supporters are trying to find a way to sneak out the side door.

Several House Republicans who endorsed Fred Thompson for president now say that they are frustrated with what they view as an apathetic campaign, and at least one regrets having committed to the former Tennessee senator.

“I think he’s kind of done a belly flop,” said an estranged Thompson backer who indicated he will not pull his public support before the “Super Tuesday” primaries. “We’ll just wait till after Feb. 5 because I think he’s going to get beat.”

The disaffected members of team Thompson say he has failed to put to rest whispers that he is unwilling to campaign hard enough to win the presidency.

“He seems to be perpetuating it instead of defeating it,” another dissatisfied Thompson backer said. “I can’t see me bailing on him, but there’s some frustration.”

Now that's a proud group of endorsers right there.