In new poll, Obama and Huckabee surge ahead in Iowa
A new Des Moines Register survey of likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa gives Illinois Senator Barack Obama a narrow edge over rival Hillary Clinton, the New York senator, with former senator John Edwards of North Carolina holding steady just below them.
Obama is at 28 percent, compared with Clinton at 25 percent, and Edwards at 23 percent. Obama's lead over Clinton is within the margin of error.
On the Republican side, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who has skyrocketed in recent Iowa polls, has overtaken Mitt Romney and now leads him 29 percent to 24 percent. Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani came in third at 13 percent.
Both parties' races in Iowa, which holds caucuses Jan. 3, remain fluid, the poll suggests. Indeed, in Iowa a month is an eternity. Still, both Obama and Huckabee can find good omens in the results.
Obama leads Clinton among women, 31 percent to 26 percent, the Register reported, a stark change from October, when 34 percent of female caucus-goers said they would vote for Clinton, compared with 21 percent for Obama. Women account for about 60 percent of probable caucus-goers, the poll indicates.
Huckabee leads Romney, 38 percent to 22 percent, among those who call themselves born-again Christians, a group making up half of likely caucus-goers. Romney drew more support than Huckabee from that demographic in October.
SCOTT HELMAN
Businesses to fund-raise for Clinton camp tonight
Several prominent local business figures have recently signed on to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and helped plan a fund-raiser at the Liberty Hotel in Boston tonight where former President Bill Clinton and Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe will appear.
Among them are two major fund-raisers for Senator John Kerry and a former chief of staff for Senator Edward M. Kennedy, all of whom are newly involved in the campaign. Neither of the Massachusetts senators has endorsed a candidate in the Democratic primary.
The participants include investment manager Scott Nathan and Jack Manning, a close friend of Kerry's and CEO of Boston Capital. Both raised large sums for Kerry when he ran for president in 2004.
Gerry Kavanaugh was a close adviser to John Edwards in his 2004 presidential bid and longtime chief of staff to Kennedy. "I decided she's the strongest candidate to go up against a strong Republican next year," Kavanaugh said.
Also involved are Ellyn McColgan, until recently a top executive at Fidelity Investments, and Ellen Zane, chief executive of Tufts-New England Medical Center. Mayor Thomas M. Menino is on the guest list.
Tickets for the fund-raiser are $2,300, the maximum donation for the primary season, and about 300 people are expected. The campaign said it was still tallying donations and did not know how much it would raise.
MARCELLA BOMBARDIERI
Huckabee's numbers just what the doctor ordered
Mike Huckabee's surge in Iowa, from single digits in the polls to a virtual tie for the lead among Republicans, has prompted speculation about just how he did it.
The answer may be a physician from Montgomery, Ala., named Randy Brinson. He is the keeper of a massive e-mail list of much-coveted Christian voters that Huckabee is using to reach and organize people in early-voting states.
Brinson's list numbers about 71 million contacts, with 25 million identified as belonging to "25 and 45 years old, upwardly mobile, right-of-center, conservative households," he said. It is rich in targets for Huckabee, who is preaching a compassionate conservative message heavily infused with religious sentiment.
In 2004, Brinson, who has worked on and off in politics for much of his life, was at a gathering of religious broadcasters when he ran into a group of people helping to market Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ."
Brinson had been trying to build a list to reach the Christian community for months and had formed Redeem the Vote, a voter registration organization. By piggybacking onto pitches made for the movie, Brinson was able to collect 12 million addresses. The list took off when Jim Caviezel, the actor who played Jesus in the film, taped a pitch for Redeem the Vote.
WASHINGTON POST
Obama is called on to shut political action committee
Hillary Clinton's campaign called on rival Barack Obama to shut down a political action committee he controls that has contributed money to elected officials in early presidential contest states.
Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson posed the demand to chief Obama strategist David Axelrod during a CBS television interview yesterday. He accused Obama of using the PAC in "apparent contravention of campaign finance laws."
"I think that folks from some of the other campaigns are reading the polls and starting to get stressed and issuing a whole range of outlandish accusations," Obama said in Des Moines, where he was endorsed by Mayor Frank Cownie yesterday. "Everything that we've done is in exact accordance with the law."
At issue is Obama's Hopefund political committee, which distributed donations to congressional candidates and local Democrats in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. It received more than $120,000 from PACs in 2005-2006 and $2,000 from PACs early this year before it stopped fund-raising.
Obama officials have said Hopefund was merely trying to assist Democratic candidates and pointed out that of the $476,000 it contributed in 2007, about 57 percent went to states other than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, or South Carolina.
ASSOCIATED PRESS 