A political gambit over a negative campaign advertisement may hurt US Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee's populist image just as he tops Iowa's polls in the race for the White House.
On Monday, three days before Iowa holds the first state nominating contest for the November election, the 52-year-old Huckabee told a packed news conference he had decided not to run a scathing TV commercial countering rival Mitt Romney's attacks on his record.
Then Huckabee proceeded to show reporters the commercial, which ensured that TV cable and network news channels would broadcast parts of it for free.
PHOTO: AP
That prompted incredulous laughter from the media. Reporters peppered him with questions about it on Tuesday.
The ad took issue with Romney, a 60-year-old former Republican governor of Massachusetts, on a range of subjects from fiscal policy to abortion and accused him of being dishonest.
A Baptist preacher, Huckabee told reporters he had changed his mind about the ad because he wanted to run a positive campaign. But critics said that by showing it to the media, he made sure his attacks would be seen and heard.
Analysts saw political calculation in the act. Some said the incident was the latest of several gaffes that ultimately would burst Huckabee's surprise bubble.
"It looks slippery and starts to suggest he's not ready for prime time," said Stephen Hess, an expert on presidential politics at the private Brookings Institution in Washington.
Huckabee's campaign said the decision was made in the heat of the campaign but that it showed he was a man of principle.
"We are hearing from lots of supporters who were energized by the decision," said Charmaine Yoest, a senior adviser to the Huckabee campaign.
Huckabee insisted he was not trying to pull a fast one.
"It was not trying to be tricky; it was trying to be as honest as I could," he said on Tuesday. "If I'd have really wanted to be tricky, I would have let the ad run three days and then say, `No, I've had a change of mind.'"
"You know, at the time, I thought it was an important way to prove that we actually had it," he said of the ad. "Probably if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have shown it."
Romney, speaking at a press conference after a house party in Johnston, Iowa, said Huckabee's approach to the campaign had been "anything but positive."
A Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Tuesday showed Huckabee widening his lead over Romney among Iowa Republicans to 29 percent to 25 percent.
Already facing criticism for his lack of foreign policy experience, Huckabee drew flak last week following the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto when he suggested more Pakistanis were entering the US illegally than other nationalities outside of Latin America. In fact the numbers are relatively small.
Huckabee has used his religious beliefs and support for constitutional bans on gay marriage and abortion to boost support from religious and conservative voters in Iowa -- a tactic that may not work in other states.
He has tried to project the image of a regular guy who is above the fray and frequently invokes his humble Arkansas roots, noting he was the first male in his family to finish high school, his mother grew up with "dirt floors and outdoor toilets" and his father worked two jobs to support the family.
Having blue-collar roots puts him in stark contrast to Romney, previously a top executive at private equity firm Bain, and to President George W. Bush.
In recent days he has tried to show himself as an ordinary fellow by going on a pheasant shoot in the fields of Iowa, jogging on a frigid morning and getting his hair cut on Monday at a small barber shop in downtown Des Moines.
"I think that he'll support small business because of his roots," said Scott Sales, the barber who gave Huckabee his haircut.
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