Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney might have shaken hands after Wednesday's debate and made up over a Huckabee quote in an upcoming magazine article that seemed to disparage Romney's Mormon faith.
But that doesn't mean they're completely playing nice - not when they're wrestling for the all-important first Republican nomination victory in the Iowa caucuses.
Campaigning yesterday in Muscatine, Iowa, Romney intensified his criticism of Huckabee and called him "too liberal" on immigration, crime, spending, and taxes.
"I frankly think that the more people come to know Mike Huckabee, the more they realize they don't know about Mike Huckabee," the former Massachusetts governor said.
On MSNBC yesterday morning, Huckabee took a swipe at Romney, noting that he is airing the first negative TV ad in Iowa, hitting Huckabee on illegal immigration.
Huckabee said that, in contrast, he's running a positive campaign.
"I think that's why we're doing so well," he said. "People appreciate that I'm talking about what America needs to do to get ahead, not how I can take a ball-peen hammer and knock somebody in the kneecaps."
GLOBE STAFF and ASSOCIATED PRESS
Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, defended his record yesterday on ABC's "Good Morning America," saying he appointed many women to high positions in state government and on his staff during his 10 1/2 years as Arkansas governor.
Huckabee had been asked on the TV show about his support of the Baptist convention's statement of beliefs on marriage. The former Arkansas governor and his wife, Janet, signed a USA Today ad in support of the statement with 129 other evangelical leaders in 1998.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Now in a new TV ad that started airing yesterday in Iowa, Dorothy Rodham says she would be supporting Hillary Clinton even if she wasn't her daughter.
"What I would like people to know about Hillary is what a good person she is," Rodham says in the 30-second spot.
"She never was envious of anybody - she was helpful," Rodham added. "And she's continued that with her adult life with helping other women. She has empathy for other people's unfortunate circumstances. I've always admired that because it isn't always true of people."
FOON RHEE
"People are frustrated over immigration because the government has been talking about solving this for 20 or 25 years, and it's just gotten worse," Giuliani says in the spot. "What we need here is leadership. Build a fence. Train the border patrol. Have a BorderStat system. Have a tamper-proof ID card.
"We can end illegal immigration," he pledges. "The technology exists to do it. The people exist to do it. Now we need the political leadership and will to get it done."
FOON RHEE
