"The more you know?"

The NRO's Byron York breaks down the latest Iowa numbers... stay tuned for a surprise at the end:

There's a new Washington Post/ABC News poll out on the Iowa race.  Conducted among Iowans likely to take part in the Republican caucuses, it shows Huckabee with 35 percent, Romney with 27, Thompson with nine, Giuliani and Ron Paul with eight percent each, and McCain with six.

Looking at intensity, 60 percent of those who named Huckabee as their choice say they will definitely support him, while 49 percent of those who named Romney say they will definitely support him.

When asked which issue was most important to them, 17 percent said immigration; nine percent said terrorism/national security; nine percent said Iraq; nine percent said abortion; and seven percent said the economy – a far different profile from the electorate at large.

When asked the attributes of the candidates, regardless of who they support, 29 percent said Romney is the strongest leader, versus 24 percent for Huckabee.  Thirty-five percent said Huckabee best understands the problem of people like themselves, versus 23 for Romney.  Thirty-five percent said Huckabee is the most honest and trustworthy, versus 23 for Romney.  Twenty-eight said Romney has the best experience to be president, versus 19 percent for Huckabee.  A whopping 61 percent said Romney has campaigned the hardest in Iowa, versus 20 percent for Huckabee.  Thirty-five percent said Romney has the best chance of being elected in November, versus 24 for Huckabee.  And 34 percent said Huckabee best reflects the core values of the Republican party, versus 25 percent for Romney.

When asked whether "Would you say the more you hear about Mike Huckabee, the more (or less, or unchanged) you like him, 37 percent said they liked Huckabee more the more they heard about him.  Fifteen percent said they liked Huckabee less, and 45 percent said their opinion has not changed.

Finally, this question: Does the fact that Mitt Romney is a Mormon make you more (or less, or unchanged) likely to vote for him?  Two percent said it made it more likely, 20 percent said less likely, and 78 percent said it wouldn't matter.  That 20 percent figure is pretty high; the comparable number in the Post's New Hampshire poll was nine percent.

Did you get that peeps?

Nearly 80% responded that Mitt's "Mormonism" MAKES NO DIFFERENCE to how they see him! PRECISELY my point from the beginning. His speech was unnecessary. The BEST thing he could have done was emphasize his value system (which he did at FRC's Values Voters Summit).

Most damning of all for the entire GOP field... 82% of the respondents on Huckabee like him MORE or have no difference in their opinion - the more they learn about him.

One last interesting note on the battle shaping up between the fiscals and the socials:

It's funny, but when it looked like Rudy Giuliani, a social liberal, was going to be the nominee, we didn't see many, if any, establishment Republican opinion leaders freaking out over what kind of danger to the future of the party and the nation he represented….I think it's fair to say that it was assumed that Giuliani would be a sound representative of the Republican Party, and that the social and religious conservatives would do like they always do and get in line….

But lo, it turns out that the candidate who's caught fire comes straight out of the religious/social conservative wing of the coalition, and he is unsound on issues most important to the fiscal wing. It's not supposed to work that way. Nobody at the elite level seems to expect the economic conservatives to suck it up for the sake of party unity. What does that say about the place of social conservatives in the party all these years?

It's hard to shake the belief that the real problem with Mike Huckabee, as far as the establishment is concerned, is that he's not clubbable.

One last note of fully transparent disclosure: Everytime I write something positive about Huck, Mitt's people all throw things at me. When I say nice things about Mitt, all the Huckaboomers slash my tires. A long time ago when I said nice things about Fred... well you see the dilemma. And now I've just come to say the name Ron Paul for personal amusement because of the gasping for air the PaulPots go into at trying to out red-face each other... My point being - for the first time in my public life - I am NOT endorsing a candidate in the GOP Primary race. This blog and all of it's entries related to 2008 are meant to be as transparent a look as possible at the candidates as I am viewing them. Besides - I have no future dreams of being an administration's Press Secretary...