Romney to run TV ad against Huckabee

BOSTON — His shot at the Republican presidential nomination in jeopardy, Mitt Romney will begin running a TV ad against Iowa front-runner Mike Huckabee on illegal immigration starting Tuesday while weighing how much negative campaigning he can add to the methodical plan he's followed all year.

The ad says the former governors have a lot in common — but not on illegal immigration, an important issue in Iowa, which will lead off nomination voting with its caucuses on Jan. 3.

"Mitt Romney stood up, and vetoed in-state tuition for illegal aliens, opposed drivers' licenses for illegals," the ad says. "Mike Huckabee? Supported in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants. Huckabee even supported taxpayer-funded college scholarships for illegal aliens."

"On immigration, the choice matters," the ad ends.

With Huckabee surging in Iowa — and showing strength nationally as well — Romney offers positive as well as negative words on his rival.

"Two former governors. Two good family men. Both pro-life. Both support a constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage," the ad says — then it focuses on what it says are stark differences on illegal immigration.

Romney's campaign characterized the "contrast ad" — the first in which he names a rival — as a reaction to Huckabee's own new TV commercial in which he touts his immigration proposal.

The elevated rhetoric — including the Romney campaign's mass e-mailing Monday of an anti-Huckabee Web column — reflects a growing sense of urgency at Romney headquarters, where the game plan all year has been predicated on bowling over rivals with victories in lead-voting Iowa and New Hampshire.

With Huckabee taking the lead in polls in Iowa and Sen. John McCain of Arizona coming on in New Hampshire, which votes Jan. 8, campaign officials have been debating whether to hit harder or simply take shots only as they present themselves.

Huckabee also has moved up in national surveys that had long shown Rudy Giuliani leading. A CNN-Opinion Research Corp. survey has Giuliani and Huckabee essentially tied for the top spot, 24 percent for Giuliani, 22 percent for Huckabee. Just last month in this survey, Giuliani had 28 percent and Huckabee 10 percent.

Romney officials are divided over how serious the threat is, noting that Huckabee is just beginning to face the same media scrutiny Romney has already encountered but also operating under the assumption that "Huckabee is for real."