memeorandum: GOP poll: Huckabee maintains lead over Romney (Jonathan Roos/Des Moines Register)

3:18 AM ET, January 1, 2008

Top Items:

New Iowa Poll: Obama widens lead over Clinton — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has widened his lead in Iowa over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards heading into Thursday's nominating caucuses, according to The Des Moines Register's final Iowa Poll before the 2008 nominating contests.

Jonathan Roos / Des Moines Register:

GOP poll: Huckabee maintains lead over Romney — Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister riding a wave of support from fundamentalist Christians, tops Mitt Romney for first place in a new Des Moines Register poll of Iowans planning to attend Thursday's Republican caucuses.

Discussion: The Trail, michellemalkin.com, Mike Huckabee for President, GreenMountainPolitics1 and TIME: Swampland

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:

Saying He Pulled Negative Ad, Huckabee Shows It — DES MOINES — In an act of political jujitsu, Mike Huckabee has halted a negative ad that he was about to broadcast on television Monday against his Republican rival, Mitt Romney. But while claiming the moral high ground …

Discussion: The Swamp, The Politico, Cliff Schecter, The New Republic and Opinions You Should Have

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
DMR poll analysis: Huck hanging on, Fred fading, McCain rising

Discussion: New York Times

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
DMR Poll: Obama widens lead, Huck still up

Discussion: The New Republic and Des Moines Register

Dan Balz / The Trail:
A Diligent Clinton Keeps Her Head Down

Discussion: Newsday and MyDD

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:

Huckabee's Remarkable Play — DES MOINES — Talk about political jujitsu! — Mike Huckabee is holding a press conference right now in which he was supposed to unveil a new negative ad against arch rival Mitt Romney. — But Mr. Huckabee came to the press conference and announced …

Discussion: The Hill, Associated Press, MarketWatch, The Moderate Voice, CNN, Firedoglake, Stop The ACLU, Blogs of War, Outside The Beltway, QandO, Hot Air, NewsBusters.org, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, Say Anything, Donklephant and Primary Monitor Blog

Joe Klein / TIME: Swampland:

Huckabust — Just when you think the Republican presidential race can't get weirder...Mike Huckabee holds a press conference here to announce that he'd just made a last minute decision not to air a negative TV ad slamming Romney. — And then he airs the ad (Video courtesy of Mark Halperin who was setting in the row behund me).

Discussion: MSNBC, Booman Tribune and The Page

Ron Fournier / Associated Press:

ON DEADLINE: Did Huckabee go too far? — DES MOINES, Iowa - Mike Huckabee may have finally gone too far. — After running an unconventional, surprisingly strong and sometimes strange race to the top tier of the Republican presidential campaign, the former Arkansas governor topped himself Monday …

Discussion: Power Line

Marc Ambinder:
Huckabee Decides Not To Air Those Nasty Ads...And Then Airs A Nasty Ad

Discussion: The Trail, Dallas Morning News, Iowa Independent, MyDD, Washington Monthly, Tennessee Guerilla Women and The American Mind

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
Huck's instant classic

Discussion: Quad City Times, CBS News, Patterico's Pontifications and The Caucus

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Huckabee pulls out surprise move

Discussion: New York Times, The Page, Riehl World View, TIME, The Carpetbagger Report, GreenMountainPolitics1, CBS News and PoliGazette

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Video: Huckabee Says He Won't Run Ad Attacking Romney …

Discussion: The Right's Field

David Paul Kuhn / The Politico:

Nader throws support to Edwards — MUSCATINE, Iowa — Ralph Nader unleashed on Hillary Rodham Clinton Monday - criticizing her for being soft on defense spending and a chum of big business - and expressed his strong support for John Edwards. — In an 11th hour effort to encourage liberal Iowans to …

Discussion: New York Times

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

What if Iowa Settles Nothing for Democrats? — DES MOINES — Iowa is packed with presidential candidates and hundreds of campaign aides, advisers and contributors. Twenty-five hundred representatives of news organizations have been granted credentials to cover the caucuses on Thursday night, twice as many as in 2004.

Discussion: Editorial RSS, The Swamp and The New Republic

Zogby:
Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Daily Tracking Poll: Clinton Leads But Loses …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Working Life

Saeed Shah / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Bhutto report: Musharraf planned to fix elections — NAUDERO, Pakistan — The day she was assassinated last Thursday, Benazir Bhutto had planned to reveal new evidence alleging the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in rigging the country's upcoming elections, an aide said Monday.

Discussion: Cliff Schecter and The Galloping Beaver

The Big Trunk / Power Line:
MS. HILLARY DOES PAKISTAN

Discussion: Middle East Times, Atlas Shrugs, Political Machine, protein wisdom, Hot Air and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Matthew Lee / Associated Press:
US gave Bhutto info about threats

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Left I on the News

Peter Galbraith / Guardian:
Pakistan may not make it — The country's future now depends …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Prairie Weather

CNN:

Protesters block Huckabee — DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) - Anti-war protestors and Ron Paul supporters both kept Mike Huckabee from entering his Iowa campaign headquarters through the front door Monday. — Three people who managed to break inside — holding a sign that said “What Would Jesus Bomb?”

Discussion: MSNBC

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

YEP, IT'S AN OUTRAGE — As we get deeper into the campaign, I do not have a problem with excluding candidates who are not generating any substantial public support. Gravel, I think, was an example of that in the Democratic debates. But I think the Paulbots have a pretty good case for outrage …

Discussion: The Swamp and Hullabaloo

Mike Ferner / AfterDowningStreet.org:

PEACE ACTIVISTS OCCUPY HUCKABEE'S IOWA CAMPAIGN OFFICE — Protesters ask former Baptist minister, “Who Would Jesus Bomb?" — Des Moines - With 40 percent of Iowa's Republican caucus voters expected to come from the ranks of conservative Christians, peace activists occupied Mike Huckabee's …

Discussion: Tennessee Guerilla Women, The Huffington Post and Firedoglake

Glenn Thrush / Newsday:

Hillary says she risked life on White House trips — VINTON, Iowa - Ever since Barack Obama suggested Hillary Clinton's eight years as first lady were a glorified tea party a few days back, she's looked for an opening to strike back. — On Saturday night in Dubuque she pounced …