Obama, Huckabee lead 2008 race in Iowa: poll

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee surged into narrow leads in Iowa in a poll released on Sunday, barely a month before the state holds the first contest in a shifting 2008 presidential race.

The poll by the Des Moines Register, the state's largest newspaper, showed Obama with a three-point edge over national front-runner Hillary Clinton in Iowa, 28 percent to 25 percent, and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards third at 23 percent.

Among Republicans, Huckabee moved past previous leader Mitt Romney to take a five-point edge, 29 percent to 24 percent. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who leads national polls, trails in third place at 13 percent.

The poll of 500 likely Iowa caucus-goers in each party had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent.

The new poll follows other recent surveys showing Obama, an Illinois senator, and Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, picking up steam in Iowa and nationally one month before Iowa's January 3 contest kicks off the state-by-state battle to choose candidates for the November 2008 election.

Obama, campaigning in Iowa, said the shifting polls explained the growing frequency and intensity of attacks on him from Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady.

"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.

"All these accusations that are starting to come out seem to correspond to shifting political fortunes," he told reporters.

Clinton's campaign on Sunday renewed its criticism of Obama for using his "Hope Fund" leadership political action committee for campaign contributions to politicians in crucial early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson, appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation," called the committee "a slush fund" and asked Obama's campaign to shut it down.

WITHIN THE LAW

Obama said the fund operated within the law and suggested Clinton's campaign "focus on trying to get their supporters to caucus" in Iowa.

Clinton's campaign also attacked Obama for telling reporters in Iowa he had not been planning a presidential run "for however number of years some of the other candidates have been planning for."

Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said the comment was at odds with what Obama's teachers, classmates and staff have said about his ambitions. "Senator Obama's campaign rhetoric is getting in the way of reality," Singer said.

Huckabee, appearing on ABC's "This Week," said his campaign was "on fire" in part because voters were being drawn to his underdog candidacy.