Huckabee visits Iowa in new role as leader of pack

JOHNSTON, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican Mike Huckabee visited Iowa on Monday in the unaccustomed role of a leading presidential contender, and said his surging campaign was fueled by ordinary people who see him as their champion.

Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and former Baptist preacher, said his modest upbringing helped shape a political approach that has lifted his low-budget campaign from the bottom to the top of the Republican pack in Iowa.

"Having a front-row seat on humanity ... it gave me a different sense of what a person needs, what a family might need," Huckabee told a crowd of about 300 corporate agriculture workers at the last of three stops on Monday.

It was his first visit to the state since a Des Moines Register poll on Sunday showed him in first place in Iowa, which in one month kicks off the state-by-state battle to choose candidates for the November 2008 general election.

Earlier in the day, he made comparisons -- without naming names -- to the well-financed campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has vastly outspent him in Iowa but has seen Huckabee blow past him.

"We've got an army of ordinary people who are out there, not because someone's paying them to love me," Huckabee told reporters in Des Moines.

"We have people out there who are working hard because they believe in what I stand for and they'd like to have a president that didn't buy his way into the White House," he said.

But Huckabee drew a mixed response in Johnston as he touted his plans to revamp the U.S. tax code, rein in spending, seek energy independence, and enhance benefits for U.S. veterans.

Some of the employees of Pioneer Hi-Bred International, an agricultural products developer, said Huckabee seemed short on details on many of his plans.

But Huckabee, a social conservative who opposes abortion and gay marriage, found support from Iowans who said his strong religious beliefs gave him an edge on his rivals.

"He's been a pastor for 12 years," said Mike Gardner, a computer technology worker, who described himself as a conservative Christian.

"The type of experiences he's had by being a pastor and shepherding people through hurts and struggles ... he's been able to have that experience under his belt, which is kind of unique," he said.

Huckabee told reporters his support was "coming from ordinary people who want a president who speaks for them and not just the folks who are in that Beltway," he said, a reference to the road that rings around Washington D.C.

The Register poll showed Huckabee winning the support of Iowa's large bloc of social and religious conservatives, leading Romney 38 percent to 22 percent among those who describe themselves as born-again Christians.

But not all who heard Huckabee speak Monday appreciated his views.

Christine Hartline, a 43-year-old mother of two and computer specialist, said he reminded her of President George W. Bush. Huckabee's hawkish views on the Iraq war and his touting of his religious beliefs turned her off, she said.

"I really think we need a change," Hartline said. "And he would not be a change."

A win in Iowa would represent a huge comeback for Huckabee, who lingered in the low single digits in polls for much of the year. It also would generate crucial momentum for Huckabee in later contests where his lack of money and organization could be a handicap.

Huckabee was a dark horse, with little money and little visibility, until an August Iowa straw poll showed him with surprising strength in the Midwest farm state.

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)