SHOCK POLL: HUCKABEE LEADS IN MICHIGAN

"According to the latest Rossman Group/MIRS/Denno-Noor survey, the GOP contest in Michigan is now shaping up as a battle between Mike Huckabee (at 23 percent), Mitt Romney (at 22 percent) and John McCain (at 18 percent)." http://www.rossmangroup.com/press_releases/article_read.cfm

“I think the big stor(y) shaping up in Michigan (is) Huckabee’s leap to the top of the GOP field...,” said John T. Reurink, president of Michigan Information & Research Service Inc. (MIRS) newsletter.

The poll was conducted Jan. 6-7, after Romney had spent at least $1 million in television advertising in Michigan, as reported Jan. 2nd by the Detroit News, while Huckabee had had no paid advertising in the state. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080102/POLITICS01/801020375

Gary Glenn, Midland, a volunteer spokesman for grassroots supporters of Huckabee in Michigan, said the new poll results "will put the motivation level of Gov. Huckabee's volunteer army here in Michigan through the roof in the final push to next Tuesday."

"Gov. Huckabee doesn't have to win Michigan to show well, but the fact that he's in a position to even threaten Mitt Romney in Romney's native state is a testimony to how strongly Gov. Huckabee's message appeals to voters in Michigan and nationwide."

"Just to stay even, Mitt Romney has had to spend a million dollars on TV ads to buy the support he has," Glenn said, "but it's Gov. Huckabee's heart for the values and concerns of the average American family that is obviously winning the hearts of Michigan voters."

Glenn said he expected that the socially conservative voters who dominate Republican presidential primaries will continue to move to Huckabee the more they learn about the issues.

"Gov. Huckabee has been a life-long defender of prenatal life and traditional family values, while until running for president, Mitt Romney had a long record of promoting abortion on demand, the homosexual agenda, and gun control.," Glenn said.

For example, he said, Huckabee helped lead the campaign for a Marriage Protection Amendment to the Arkansas state constitution, while Romney as a candidate for governor in 2002 opposed a marriage amendment to the Massachusetts constitution and Sen. John McCain was one of only a handful of Republican lawmakers who voted against a federal marriage amendment.