Thread: Immigration fight may dominate GOP debate

December 12, 2007
Immigration fight may dominate GOP debate

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The increasingly heated fight between Iowa front-runners Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee over immigration is expected to dominate the Republican presidential debate Wednesday.

Having surged in Iowa, Mike Huckabee is increasingly the target of his rivals attacks.

The debate will be the last time the GOP presidential hopefuls will appear on the same stage just three weeks before the crucial Iowa caucuses, January 3.

The debate will include the eight major presidential candidates. It is sponsored by The Des Moines Register and Iowa Public Television and will be shown live on CNN at 2 p.m. ET.

In addition to Huckabee and Romney, the debate also will include former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California.

But the battle to win Iowa has increasingly come down to Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas who has surged to the top of the polls largely due to the support of evangelical Christians.

A McClatchy-MSNBC poll conducted earlier this week had Huckabee leading the GOP field with the support of 32 percent of likely caucus-goers. Romney, who had been leading in Iowa for months, was at 20 percent in that poll, which had a margin of error was plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Romney has sharpened his attacks on Huckabee, particularly on immigration, the issue the Romney camp views as one of his rival's biggest vulnerabilities, after the Arkansas Republican began rising in the polls. Huckabee was only at 12 percent in Iowa in September, according to the McClatchy-MSNBC poll.

While Iowa's population is overwhelmingly white, the state's agricultural industry is attracting an increasing number of both legal and illegal Hispanic immigrants. The influx of these new workers has created a backlash among certain segments of Iowa's electorate, and is a hot button issue in the Republican presidential nominating contest.

Some GOP candidates are not only airing television ads touting their personal positions on illegal immigration, but they are also criticizing their opponents for being weak on the issue.

On Tuesday, Romney, who has lost his front-runner status in polls to Huckabee in Iowa, began airing an ad, titled "The Record." The ad compares the candidates' conservative stands on social issues but draws a sharp contrast on their track records on immigration policy, particularly the fact that Huckabee supported in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants in Arkansas while Romney opposed a such a measure in Massachusetts.

During an event Tuesday in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Huckabee called the ad "desperate" and said he thought it would backfire.

"I'm somewhat flattered in that I seem to be the recipient of the first negative attack ad in the Republican primary," Huckabee said. "That's usually the kind of desperation on the part of an opponent who feels that his only way of winning is to attack and destroy."

Tensions between Romney and Huckabee also picked up Wednesday over an article scheduled to appear in Sunday's New York Times Magazine.

In it, Huckabee asks "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

Romney, who would be the nation's first Mormon president if elected, said Huckabee's question was out of bounds.

"I think it is totally appropriate to contrast their own record with the opponent, to talk about their differences on issues," Romney said in an appearance on NBC's Today show Wednesday. "But attacking someone's religion is really going too far."

"It is not the American way, and I think Americans will object that," he said.

In a statement, a Huckabee senior advisor, Charmaine Yoest, said Huckabee "believes this campaign should center on a discussion of the important issues confronting our nation and not focus on questions of religious belief."

While Romney and the other Republican candidates may continue to attack Huckabee during Wednesday's debate, CNN commentator Roland Martin said the sharp Huckabee could backfire on him and turn off Iowa voters.

"They're going to go after Mike Huckabee in their debate," Martin said, "but I think they must be very careful because he's been able to play this sort of role of being the nice, well-liked guy.

"If you attack him, he may see it as a badge of honor," Martin said.

But Cheri Jacobus, a Republican strategist said the other candidates have to aggressively, if carefully, differentiate themselves from Huckabee if they want to do well in the Hawkeye state.

"This is the last chance really for folks to get to really take a good close look at these candidates," Jacobus said. "I think you will see the arrows pointed at Huckabee," she said. "The problem and the way these folks have to finesse during this debate is they have to be able to draw the contrast without going negative.

"It's a pretty tricky thing, but they have to do it," she added.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/12/debate.preview/

Watch for a lot of Crookabee one liners. I think he prefers to tell jokes than to answer a question truthfully.. And I am sure he will bring up the Minutemen endorsment. Wonder how much he had to pay Gilchrest for that.