The Washington Post has a long article this morning about Mike Huckabee’s rise in Iowa:
DES MOINES, Nov. 24 — For six months, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has owned Iowa.
He spent millions on TV and unleashed his extended family to blanket the state. He survived a farm-town blitz by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and the late entrance of former Tennessee senator Fred D. Thompson into the Republican race. Romney’s money and organization bought him a convincing victory at the Ames presidential straw poll and a seemingly unshakable lead in the Iowa survey.
But his vision of quick, one-two victories here and in New Hampshire is crumbling, suddenly threatened by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a candidate who spent most of 2007 out of the spotlight and has struggled to raise money. Polls now show the pair in a virtual tie in Iowa, a development that not only threatens Romney’s carefully laid plans but could reshape the entire GOP nominating contest.
Huckabee has received glowing reviews for his debate performances, showing off his folksy charm and playing to conservatives. But despite his second-place showing in the straw poll this summer, his campaign didn’t take off until this month, when polls began to show him overtaking everyone but Romney in Iowa. Money started flowing in — $1 million online in less than one week, according to his campaign — and he started to catch the attention of both pundits and rivals.
“There is nothing like winning,” said Bob Vander Plaats, Huckabee’s Iowa chairman. “If we come in second, that’s a story. If we beat Romney, the whole universe just changed.”
Iowa has a funny habit of changing the universe every four years or so, doesn’t it ?
