McCain and Huckabee form alliance against Romney
John McCain and Mike Huckabee have become unusual allies, united by their desire to stop Mitt Romney from winning the early presidential nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.
While Huckabee and McCain have repeatedly criticized Romney, they have showered each other with affection. McCain has lauded Huckabee as "a man of integrity, honesty, and decency." And Huckabee has praised McCain as "a true, honest-to-God American hero."
The warmth between them may be heartfelt, but both men recognize that they need each other over the next two weeks. McCain needs Huckabee to beat Romney in Iowa's Republican caucuses on Jan. 3, so that Romney is weakened for the New Hampshire primary five days later. And Huckabee needs McCain to draw votes from Romney in Iowa. Polls indicate McCain and Romney are in a statistical tie in New Hampshire, and Huckabee is leading Romney In Iowa.
The alliance between the folksy former Arkansas governor and the irreverent Arizona senator has been one of the stranger story lines to emerge in the Republican race.
McCain, after all, has had a rocky relationship with evangelical voters since he criticized Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson during the 2000 presidential campaign, saying their message of "intolerance" hurt the Republican Party and America. Huckabee, meanwhile, has rocketed to the top of the Iowa polls and the top tier of national candidates by courting evangelical voters and marketing himself in his ads as a "Christian leader."
McCain and Huckabee have put aside whatever differences each might have in the interests of blocking Romney, said Dante J. Scala, a University of New Hampshire political scientist. At presidential debates, and whenever they cross paths on the campaign trail, McCain and Huckabee swap compliments. Their campaigns have resisted circulating the sort of "opposition research" and negative news articles on each other that they routinely send out on Romney.
"It's the opponent of my opponent is my friend, at least for the time being," Scala said yesterday. "Both of them have an interest in derailing Romney early - Huckabee in Iowa and McCain in New Hampshire - and each one stands to benefit from the other's success."
Scala said the partnership may well rupture in a month, if McCain and Huckabee succeed in knocking Romney off his game plan of winning both Iowa and New Hampshire. But for now, they have no reason to attack each other. Huckabee is busy courting socially conservative evangelical voters in Iowa, while McCain is focused on locking up socially moderate, fiscal conservative voters in New Hampshire. Neither is competing aggressively on the other's turf.
"Down the road, if Huckabee and McCain win the first two contests, then they may well turn on each other because they may be the only two left standing," Scala said. "But for right now, I think their goal of supplanting Romney is bigger than any disagreement with each other."
Romney finds himself in a two-front battle, targeting Huckabee, then McCain as each has emerged as threats. Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said the attacks from both Huckabee and McCain reflect Romney's strong position in Iowa, New Hampshire, and other states with early contests.
"We are the one campaign that is competitive in a number of early primary states," Madden said in a statement yesterday. "That's what sets us apart from the others who have chosen one-state strategies as a result of an inability or unwillingness to compete across the board. So, as a result Mike Huckabee attacks us in Iowa while encouraging the McCain campaign in New Hampshire, and McCain attacks us in New Hampshire while encouraging Huckabee in Iowa. Their strategies are emblematic of their fundamental weaknesses, while ours points to our strength of message and resources across the board."
Last week in New Hampshire, Romney accused McCain of failing "Reagan 101" by not supporting President Bush's tax cuts. Days earlier in South Carolina, Romney went after Huckabee for being too liberal on immigration, crime, and taxes.
While the Huckabee and McCain campaigns declined to comment yesterday, their recent actions and words show they have, in effect, joined forces against Romney. The McCain campaign accused Romney of being a "fantasy candidate" who has glossed over his more moderate stances on abortion and other issues as governor, and Huckabee called Romney's criticism of his record "desperate" and "dishonest."
"They're kind of tag-teaming in a way," Scala said, "and though they're not necessarily making coordinated attacks, that's the net effect."
By contrast, McCain and Huckabee happily boost each other's credentials. At a Fox News debate in September, Huckabee praised McCain's military service and his support of the troop surge in Iraq so effusively that the audience at the University of New Hampshire broke into cheers and applause.
"Senator McCain made a great point," Huckabee said, "and let me make this clear: If there's anybody on this stage that understands the word 'honor,' I've got to say Senator McCain understands that word, because he has given his country a sacrifice the rest of us don't even comprehend."
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. 