Republican and Conservative political analysis and commentary

A new Newsweek Iowa poll has Mike Huckabee soundly trouncing his competition:

Conducted Dec. 5-6

Huckabee 39%
Romney 17%
Thompson 10%
Giuliani 9%
McCain 6% 

This is a pretty significant poll that will affect the strategy of the Huckabee and Mitt Romney camps.

For Huckabee, it prevents him from having to go negative on TV first, which looked likely a month ago. His lead is large enough now that he can take the high road; possibly all the way through the primary.

For Romney, it makes him the likely suspect to go negative first and increases the chances that he will go negative sooner rather than later. It's the only way he's going to put a dent into Huckabee's numbers; and we're predicting a negative from Romney some time next week.