Rising Republican Huckabee tests appeal in U.S. South

By Matthew Bigg and Caren Bohan

GREENVILLE, South Carolina (Reuters) - Surging in the polls, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee took his folksy style to the U.S. Bible Belt on Saturday in an attempt to broaden his campaign's national appeal.

The former Arkansas governor's rapid rise was underscored this week by two opinion surveys, one of which put him ahead in the crucial first state of Iowa and another that gave him a national lead over rivals Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani.

"We've been on the stove simmering for about 11 months," Huckabee told an audience in Greenville. "Somehow in the last two weeks, the lid blew off and the pot started boiling."

A Newsweek poll put Huckabee in the lead in Iowa by a 2-to-1 margin. The poll showed the Arkansas governor garnering 39 percent of the support of likely Republican caucus-goers, followed by Romney with 17 percent in the state, where the Massachusetts governor had previously been ahead.

Although Giuliani has led the Republican field in many nationwide polls, a Rasmussen poll released this week put Huckabee at the front of the pack with a slim 1-point edge over the former New York mayor.

Once viewed as a second-tier candidate, Huckabee is now basking in media attention. In South Carolina, he hopes his credentials as a former Baptist minister will help him court voters in the state with a high number of churchgoers.

In Greenville, he appeared to revel in his image as an ordinary guy whose values would chime with his audience and in an ironic nod to his sudden rock-star status, he played bass on stage with a local high school band prior to speaking.

CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN