Poll: Huckabee leads GOP pack in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Presidential hopefuls Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama widened their leads over rivals among likely caucus-goers in Iowa, a new poll shows.

Former Arkansas Gov. Huckabee grabbed a better than two-to-one margin over nearest challenger Mitt Romney -- 39 percent to 17 percent among Republicans likely to attend party caucuses -- the Newsweek poll said. One-time Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was at 10 percent, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani polled at 9 percent and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was at 6 percent.

"You rarely see anything like (Huckabee's jump)," says Larry Hugick, who handled the polling for Princeton Survey Research Associates. "He's filling a vacuum. Nobody on the Republican side was getting strong support."

Among Democrats most likely to attend the caucuses, Sen. Obama, D-Ill., moved ahead of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., 35 percent to 29 percent. Former Sen. John Edwards, D-S.C., was at 18 percent.

"It's evolving into a two-person race, with Edwards hanging on," Hugick said.

The poll was conducted Dec. 5-6, based on telephone interviews with 1,408 registered Iowa voters. It has a margin of error of 3 percent.