Romney still trailing Huckabee

Just two days before Iowans caucus to choose their presidential picks, GOP candidate Mitt Romney's performance in the polls may not be strong enough to end rival Mike Huckabee's "Huck-a-boom."

A new Des Moines Register poll, released late Monday, showed Romney trailing Huckabee, 26 percent to 32 percent. The widely anticipated statewide poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.

The size of Huckabee's lead over Romney, the former leader of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the favorite candidate of most Utahns, is virtually unchanged from the newspaper's last poll in November.

Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said the campaign was not surprised by the closeness of the race. "We have fully expected this race to tighten right up until the end. With only a few days left until the caucuses begin, we are going to continue to work hard. No matter where the polls show us, we are going to run like we are 10 points behind," Gitcho said.

While Romney continues to lag behind Huckabee despite putting up a tough — and expensive — fight on the campaign trail, another GOP candidate, Arizona Sen. John McCain, saw a 6-point boost to 13 percent of likely caucusgoers since the Register's last poll.

McCain is seen as Romney's chief competition in the New Hampshire primary Jan. 8 and, like Huckabee in Iowa, has been the subject of what many see as attack ads from Romney there.

The new Register poll puts Romney behind Huckabee by 0.6 percent in the latest average of the newest surveys compiled by the Real Clear Politics Web site. The razor-thin difference between the two candidates means, of course, the election is too close to call.

Still, Tim Hagle, a political science professor at the University of Iowa and an active Republican, said other poll results show Iowa voters are paying more attention to Huckabee — and apparently not liking what they're seeing.

"With Romney, he's been solid all along," Hagle said. "Really, it's that the 'Huck-a-boom' is going bust. He was popular for a while, he seemed like the breakout candidate for a while. But then people started taking a look at him."

Much of the focus on Huckabee has come courtesy of Romney, who is flooding the Iowa airwaves with television commercials accusing his rival of everything from being a big spender who raised taxes to commuting the sentences of felons as Arkansas governor.