In close Iowa race, Huckabee says Romney untrustworthy

COLUMBUS CENTER, Iowa (Reuters) - Four days before Iowa voters kick off a tight presidential race, Republican Mike Huckabee said on Sunday rival Mitt Romney could not be trusted to be president and Democrat Hillary Clinton said her husband would have no formal White House role if she wins.

Democratic and Republican candidates took a brief detour from the campaign trail to appear on Sunday morning talk shows before fanning out across Iowa, which on Thursday opens the state-by-state battle to pick candidates for the November election to replace President George W. Bush.

A Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll showed Huckabee and Romney in a virtual tie among Republicans in Iowa. In the Democratic race, Clinton, a New York senator, held a slight lead over Barack Obama with John Edwards a close third.

Other polls have shown the three Democrats bunched even more tightly at the top, with Edwards gaining ground on his rivals.

Huckabee lashed out at Romney, who has run a series of television ads attacking his record as Arkansas governor on taxes, immigration and fighting crime. Huckabee said Romney was distorting his record.

"I've been very clear that Mitt Romney is running a very desperate and frankly a dishonest campaign," Huckabee said on NBC's "Meet the Press," adding it raised questions about his suitability for the White House.

"If you aren't being honest in obtaining the job, can we trust you to be honest when you get the job?"

Polls have shown Huckabee's recent surge slowing or ending under Romney's attacks, along with a growing barrage of questions about his record and his foreign policy expertise.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, told reporters in Columbus Center that his ads criticizing Huckabee and Arizona Sen. John McCain were based on their positions and records.

"I think it's entirely appropriate in the political process to point out differences on issues, but I don't think you have to make it a personal attack," Romney said. "And when that happens I think it's very disappointing and the public responds accordingly."

BILL CLINTON: A TRADITIONAL SPOUSE

Clinton said on ABC's "This Week" that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, would play the traditional role of a spouse in the White House -- one she played for eight years.

"He will not have a formal official role. But just as presidents rely on wives, husbands, fathers, friends of long years, he will be my close confidant and adviser, as I was with him," Clinton said.

"I doubt that there will be an important issue that I won't talk to him about. I don't think there was an important issue that he didn't talk to me about," she said.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator and candidate for vice president, said Clinton's idea her husband would not play an official role was "a complete fantasy."

"You watch him out on the campaign trail and he spends an awful lot of time talking about his views and not as much time talking about Sen. Clinton's, which is understandable given his history and his leadership," he said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Edwards, who has railed against the influence of corporate and special interest money in Washington, has been criticized by Obama's campaign for not trying to stop an influx of outside groups spending on his behalf in Iowa, including one run by his former campaign manager.

Campaign finance law prohibits coordination between the groups and the campaigns, and Edwards said he had not communicated with them.

"I didn't want them running advertising, and I've continued to say that every time I've been asked. But I can't stop these people," Edwards said. "I don't have control over them."

Obama, an Illinois senator seeking to become America's first black president, said the outside groups might be hurting his campaign but his crowds were still big and momentum was growing.

"We have seen independent expenditures groups that are providing outside assistance, running some negative ads against us. That may have some effect," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"But ultimately I am putting my faith in the people of Iowa and the people of America that they want something better."

Campaigning in Plymouth, New Hampshire, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani sought to stay above the fight between his Republican rivals. He cited former U.S. President Ronald Reagan "11th commandment" not to criticize other Republicans.

"Republicans criticizing Republicans is counter-productive," said Giuliani, who has seen his lead in national polls dissipate and has largely bypassed Iowa to concentrate on later voting states.

(Additional reporting by Charles Abbott, Jason Szep, Mark Egan, Ellen Wulfhorst, Deborah Charles, Ed Stoddard; writing by John Whitesides; editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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