Huckabee and McCain face off

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. --- John McCain, meet Mike Huckabee. You're now rivals.

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Associated Press

Republican hopeful Mike Huckabee leads the polls in South Carolina, where the Republican primary will be held Jan. 19.

Until now the two Republican presidential candidates have been convenient allies -- the two Davids who knocked down Mitt Romney, the financial Goliath. But there's nothing convenient about Michigan and South Carolina, states that could make or break either candidate's hopes for being the next Republican presidential nominee.

So these men who separately confronted Mr. Romney, one in Iowa and one in New Hampshire, are now in the same ring.

"I don't see us going out there and taking the gloves off," Mr. Huckabee said of the prospects of a tough encounter with Mr. McCain.

To be sure, Mr. McCain and Mr. Huckabee appeal to separate wings of the Republican Party. Iowa with its greater share of social conservatives and evangelicals was better suited to Mr. Huckabee. New Hampshire, with its independents and national security minded voters, preferred Mr. McCain.

Who wins depends on who else they can draw in with their distinct messages -- Mr. McCain's national security savvy and independent streak or the former Arkansas governor's religion-streaked economic populism.

The two tend to like each other -- Mr. Huckabee has called Mr. McCain a "genuine American hero." So far neither shows any inclination to go after the other with the same zeal with which Mr. Romney went after both of them.

But neither of them is reluctant to pull his punches if confronted.

Mr. McCain did it directly, airing ads in New Hampshire quoting newspapers that called Mr. Romney a phony. And Mr. Huckabee prepared a negative ad against Mr. Romney in Iowa, chose not to air it, but showed it to the media anyway.

Huckabee campaign manager Chip Saltsman, speaking to reporters the night of the Iowa caucuses, conceded as much: "It's politics, and it may get a little rough."

In South Carolina, Mr. Huckabee is leading in the polls and it's likely the contest with Mr. McCain will be head-on. Mr. Huckabee is already exploiting an issue that could be damaging to Mr. McCain -- immigration -- by running ads promoting his tougher proposal for treating illegal immigrants.