Huckabee Catching Romney in Iowa

The GOP race in Iowa is changing with dark horse candidate Mike Huckabee catching up with Mitt Romney:

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, buoyed by strong support from Christian conservatives, has surged past three of his better-known presidential rivals and is now challenging former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for the lead in the Iowa Republican caucuses, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News Poll.

Huckabee has tripled his support in Iowa since late July, eclipsing former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, former senator Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). Huckabee now runs nearly evenly with Romney, the longtime Iowa front-runner.

Huckabee's rise from dark horse to contender in Iowa is one more unexpected twist in a race that has remained fluid throughout the year and adds another unpredictable element to the competition for the GOP nomination. His support in Iowa appears stronger and more enthusiastic than that of his rivals.

Still, there are other signs in the poll suggesting that Romney remains the candidate to beat in the state and that gains for Huckabee may be harder to achieve in the next 43 days than they were over the past four months.

Let's just say that Huckabee pulls a stunning upset and beats Romney in Iowa. Then what? He's running way back in the pack in New Hampshire, something which probably won't change that much, but if he moves up in the national polls he's got one big problem - money. The Iowa winner can count on a lot of free publicity since the media loves a horserace and probably wouldn't mind seeing Mitt Romney knocked down a peg or two, but it will take serious money to be competitive in the Feb. 5th primaries that will cover something like 20 states. There won't be much time to raise the funds, nor much time to get the message on the air. I guarantee you that the big money campaigns are already reserving ad slots and there may not be much available to a late entry.

While a win in Iowa can almost guarantee the nomination for a well-funded candidate, it's not so for a candidate short on bucks.

You can certainly tell that Huckabee is becoming a serious player because of the pundit attention he's getting. Jonah Goldberg has a piece which somewhat unseriously claims that he's more afraid of Huckabee than Ron Paul - perhaps because Huckabee might actually win and Goldberg doesn't like what he's seeing in Huckabee. You can read that here. Huckabee has his own op-ed in the Des Moines Register here. And ABC has more on the Huckabee surge in Iowa here.

It's starting to get good...