Could Internal Polls in Iowa Really Show Huckabee 40, Romney 17?

Monday, December 10, 2007

MITT ROMNEY, MIKE HUCKABEE

So not long ago, I heard from a guy backing a Romney rival, who would presumably have reason to whack the former Massachusetts governor, that Romney's internal polling in Iowa has "Huckabee 40, Romney 17." I trust this source, although I periodically wonder how a guy backing somebody else would get wind of Romney's internal polling.

So I went to some of my Romney guys, and asked, "Is this A) nonsense or B) setting up extremely high expectations for Huckabee, that he will underachieve and make the story out of Iowa the Romney comeback?"

One said he thought that sounded like the numbers among evangelicals in Iowa (and the source who mentioned it specifically said it was not just evangelicals, but the entire statewide GOP caucusgoer pool).

A second Romneyite told me these numbers "sound about right" and indeed suggests that if Huckabee does not win by 23 percent that the story will be the Romney comeback.

UPDATE: Huckabee's Joe Carter e-mails in: "We’ll gladly take a the win in Iowa and let Governor Romney have his “we-lost-but-only-by-20-percent” comeback story."

12/10 11:15 AM Share