Huckabee taps veteran strategist in White House bid

CONCORD, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Friday hired a veteran strategist and Washington political insider to run his surging campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Ed Rollins, who masterminded former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's landslide re-election in 1984 and worked on Ross Perot's independent presidential bid in 1992, will serve as Huckabee's national campaign chairman.

Huckabee's stock is climbing after he overtook former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney this month in polls in Iowa, whose January 3 caucus kicks off the state-by-state battle to choose candidates for the November 8, 2008, election.

The ordained Southern Baptist minister is now running behind former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in national polls, though he is still stuck in single digits in New Hampshire, where he announced Rollins' appointment.

"Our campaign has been a surprise to many people because we have not had the level of resources other campaigns have had," Huckabee said in the state capital, Concord. "Today I would like to make an announcement that I believe will help fill in many of the gaps that we have had up to this point."

Rollins' resume includes jobs in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Reagan. A one-time amateur boxing champion, he has the reputation of being a tough political infighter who entitled his autobiography, "Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms: My Life in American Politics."

Rollins raised a furor in 1993 after he told reporters the successful campaign he ran for New Jersey Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman had paid $500,000 in "walking-around money" to ministers and other black political activists to get black voters to stay away from the polls.

Facing possible criminal prosecution, Rollins later denied under oath that such payments had been made and the investigation was halted.

Two new polls on Friday showed Huckabee taking the lead for the Republican nomination in South Carolina and Florida, early-voting states that are often seen as a barometer for other southern U.S. states.

Twenty-four percent of South Carolina Republicans expressed support for Huckabee, up from 3 percent in July, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll taken Sunday through Wednesday.

That put him ahead of actor and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, who had 17 percent. Giuliani's support nearly halved to 16 percent from 30 percent in July in South Carolina, which holds its Republican nominating primary vote on Jan 19.

A separate automated telephone survey by Rasmussen Reports showed Huckabee attracting 27 percent support of Florida Republicans, ahead of Romney at 23 percent and Giuliani at 19 percent. Florida holds its nominating primary on January 29.

Rollins cautioned against reading too much into the polls. "Polls go back and forth," he said in Concord.

"I operate under the premise you win every single week. You measure yourself in how well you are doing every week. And that's the way we are going to run this campaign," he said.

(Additional reporting by Alan Elsner, editing by Doina Chiacu)