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Mike Huckabee wins Iowa GOP caucuses, CNN projects

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has won Iowa’s Republican caucuses, the first contest of the 2008 presidential election, CNN projected Thursday night.

With 25 percent of GOP caucuses reporting, Huckabee led his leading rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, by a margin of 35 percent to 24 percent.

Polls in the final week indicated a dead heat between the two former governors, with the remaining Republican hopefuls trailing well behind.

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, a late entry into a race that has been under way for about a year, was running third with 14 percent; Arizona Sen. John McCain, who had largely abandoned Iowa to focus on next week’s New Hampshire primary, was fourth at 12 percent; anti-war Texas congressman and former libertarian standard-bearer Ron Paul had 11 percent support.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has turned the focus of his campaign to the February 5 Super Tuesday primaries, trailed far behind with 4 percent.

California Rep. Duncan Hunter, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, had won less than 1 percent support.

Unlike the more complicated Democratic caucuses, the GOP results are tabulated by a single straw poll. Watch GOP caucus-goers express support for their candidates

Despite the typically low turnout, Iowa’s first-in-line status and its tradition of close-up interaction with presidential hopefuls give the caucuses oversized clout in U.S. elections.

CNN polling of caucus-goers on their way in found illegal immigration was the top issue among Republicans, with 32 percent naming it their biggest concern. Romney had strongly criticized Huckabee on the issue, criticizing his support for in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants.

But Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor, appears to have benefited from a strong turnout by evangelical Christian voters, a major GOP voting bloc in Iowa. CNN entrance polls indicated that more than 60 percent of Republican caucus-goers were evangelicals.

Huckabee was known more for his dramatic weight loss than his politics before 2007, and he languished in single digits in the polls for most of the year.

His fortunes started to turn with a surprise second-place showing at the Ames straw poll in August, and social conservatives — an important GOP voting bloc — began to move his way in the fall.

He has been vastly outspent by Romney, who poured millions of dollars into a sophisticated get-out-the-vote operation. Nevertheless, he told supporters in Burlington, Iowa, during a last-minute rally that they could send an important message Thursday night.

With the eyes of the world on Iowa, imagine what it’s going to be like when they tune into places like Burlington, Waterloo, Des Moines, Dubuque, Sioux City, and they find out that caucus-goers here in Iowa can’t be bought, that they can’t even be rented, that they’ll make up their own minds and they’ll make it up for what they stand for, he said.

Huckabee’s late surge saw him overtake Romney’s longstanding lead in the polls by December. Romney hit back with a wave of advertising critical of Huckabee’s record as governor of Arkansas, ads that led the normally affable Huckabee to blast Romney as dishonest last weekend.

Romney told supporters late Wednesday in Des Moines that the race was right at the edge.

Who knows who is going to be leading tomorrow? he asked. But I am convinced that we are going to make a real effort, and that together we are going to be successful.
found here.

Huckabee wins Iowa on GOP side, CNN projects

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) — Mike Huckabee will win the Iowa Republican caucus, CNN projects, based on early results.

With 15 percent of precincts reporting, Huckabee had the support of 36 percent of voters, compared to 23 percent for Mitt Romney. Fred Thompson had 15 percent and John McCain had 12.

On the Democratic side, early results show John Edwards with a narrow lead over rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

With 23 percent of precincts reporting, Edwards had the support of 33 percent of voters, compared to 32 percent each for Clinton and Obama. Bill Richardson had 2 percent of the vote.

Polls taken as Iowans entered the first-in-the-nation caucuses show a tight race for both parties.

The first wave of entrance polling shows Romney and Huckabee leading the GOP side. On the Democratic side, Clinton is holding a narrow edge over Obama and Edwards, according to CNN analysis of entrance polls.

These are just entrance polls, however, and the numbers are extremely fluid.

With such a close race on both sides, voter turnout is key.

Caucus-goer Kathy Barger, inside a Democratic caucus site in Walnut, Iowa, said the room she is in is packed to the brim with a line out the door.

I don’t know how they are going to be able to fit everybody in the room, much less count the votes, she said. There are bodies in every available space in the room.

The White House hopefuls were campaigning down to the wire in Iowa today, determined to reach as many people as possible before the 1,781 caucuses that started at 7 p.m.

Every supporter is critical in this contest, which historically produces very low turnout. The Iowa Democratic Party said 124,000 people participated in the 2004 caucuses, while the Republican Party of Iowa estimated that 87,000 people took part in the 2000 caucuses. (President Bush ran unchallenged for a second term in 2004.) See your pictures of the candidates in Iowa

Iowa Democrats, unlike Republicans, use a more complicated system to determine a candidate’s viability. Republican caucus-goers are asked for their support for a candidate only one time during the event. Democrats are asked twice: an initial question of support, and a second if their first choice candidate does not reach a 15 percent threshold to achieve viability.

The candidates might disagree on matters of policy, but in the closing week of the Iowa campaign they are working from the same script on political strategy. Some candidates rode in buses, while others took planes to cities and towns across this state in 11th-hour drives to give a final boost of adrenalin to their candidacies. See the challenges facing each candidate

On the Republican side, Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has been relying almost entirely on momentum to fuel his candidacy.

For most of 2007, Huckabee languished in the single digits in the polls and had very little success raising money. But his momentum really picked up in the final six weeks of the year when social conservatives — an important voting bloc in Iowa — began to move his way.

But Huckabee’s ground operation does not match that of Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who has spent millions of dollars identifying supporters.

Instead, Huckabee said his get-out-the-vote operation will be driven by a mixture of official campaign activity and grassroots support from home-schoolers and opponents of gun control.

While a Huckabee victory wouldn’t be fatal to Romney, it would weaken him and would put Romney in a dogfight with Arizona Sen. John McCain in New Hampshire, which holds its primary January 8.

Speaking to about 175 people in a Burlington casino, Huckabee preached his brand of Republican populism in a last pitch to voters.

People get elected and they think they’re the ruling class, Huckabee said. And we’re the serving class here to serve them, and it’s got to be the other way around — that has to change and starting tonight.

People would rather elect a president who reminds them of the guy they work with, not the guy that laid them off, he said. I think they get it.

Meanwhile, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California will likely need strong showings in Iowa to keep their campaigns going, while Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is likely to ride his surge of popularity through February 5 — Super Tuesday, when 24 states hold their primaries — no matter where he places in the early contests.

Speaking to CNN Thursday, Thompson brushed off speculation that he would drop out of the race if he didn’t finish better than third in the caucuses. Watch Thompson say personal ambition is bad

On the Democratic side, Clinton, a New York senator, and Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, are battling Obama, a senator from Illinois, for their party’s nomination in a contest that has come down to two main themes: change and experience.

Clinton is working to convince Iowa caucus-goers she has the experience to enact change, while Edwards and Obama preach that she is too much of a Washington insider to bring change to the nation’s capital.

If Obama wins Thursday night, Clinton would lose the sense of inevitability she has as the national front-runner. New Hampshire polls showing Clinton tied with Obama could grow more troublesome.

But if Clinton loses to Edwards in Iowa, it could produce an Edwards-Obama showdown to be the non-Clinton candidate.

Obama, whose campaign was organizing babysitters for potential caucus-goers, said he was expecting a high turnout.

We’ve seen these enormous crowds as we travel across the state in this last week, and the weather’s been brutal, so for these folks to be coming out just to hear a candidate at the last minute, it’s doubtful they’re not going to go to caucus, he said Thursday.

Edwards — who placed second in the 2004 caucuses — swore off sleep to hold a 36-hour marathon. Watch Edwards call for an investigation of oil prices

Democratic hopeful Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico said he was feeling good in the final hours.

You know, I think a lot of the undecideds are breaking my way. Iowans make up their minds at the last minute, maybe 30 percent of them in the last three to four days, and I’m seeing good movement, he said. Watch Richardson call for a 50 mpg fuel standard

The second tier of Democratic candidates — Sens. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, and Richardson — will all need strong showings in Iowa or risk a fatal blow to their campaigns.
found here.

Iowans kick off White House voting

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) — Voters in Iowa have filed into schools, gymnasiums and neighbors’ homes to pick their presidential candidates in the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

With candidates from both parties in a tight race, voter turnout is key.

Caucus-goer Kathy Barger, inside a Democratic caucus site in Walnut, Iowa, said the room she is in is packed to the brim with a line out the door.

I don’t know how they are going to be able to fit everybody in the room, much less count the votes, she said. There are bodies in every available space in the room.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have been at the top, according to the most recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll. The front-runners in the Republican race are Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, according the the poll.

The White House hopefuls are campaigning down to the wire in Iowa today, determined to reach as many people as possible before the 1,781 caucuses that start at 7 p.m. See your pictures of the candidates in Iowa

Every supporter is critical in this contest, which historically produces very low turnout. The Iowa Democratic Party said 124,000 people participated in the 2004 caucuses, while the Republican Party of Iowa estimated that 87,000 people took part in the 2000 caucuses. (President Bush ran unchallenged for a second term in 2004.)

Iowa Democrats, unlike Republicans, use a more complicated system to determine a candidate’s viability. Republican caucus-goers are asked for their support for a candidate only one time during the event. Democrats are asked twice: an initial question of support, and a second if their first choice candidate does not reach a 15 percent threshold to achieve viability.

The candidates might disagree on matters of policy, but in the closing week of the Iowa campaign they are working from the same script on political strategy. Some candidates rode in buses, while others took planes to cities and towns across this state in 11th-hour drives to give a final boost of adrenalin to their candidacies. See the challenges facing each candidate

On the Republican side, Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has been relying almost entirely on momentum to fuel his candidacy.

For most of 2007, Huckabee languished in the single digits in the polls and had very little success raising money. But his momentum really picked up in the final six weeks of the year when social conservatives — an important voting bloc in Iowa — began to move his way.

But Huckabee’s ground operation does not match that of Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who has spent millions of dollars identifying supporters.

Instead, Huckabee said his get-out-the-vote operation will be driven by a mixture of official campaign activity and grassroots support from home-schoolers and opponents of gun control.

While a Huckabee victory wouldn’t be fatal to Romney, it would weaken him and would put Romney in a dogfight with Arizona Sen. John McCain in New Hampshire, which holds its primary January 8.

Speaking to about 175 people in a Burlington casino, Huckabee preached his brand of Republican populism in a last pitch to voters.

People get elected and they think they’re the ruling class, Huckabee said. And we’re the serving class here to serve them, and it’s got to be the other way around — that has to change and starting tonight.

People would rather elect a president who reminds them of the guy they work with, not the guy that laid them off, he said. I think they get it.

Meanwhile, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California will likely need strong showings in Iowa to keep their campaigns going, while Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is likely to ride his surge of popularity through February 5 — Super Tuesday, when 24 states hold their primaries — no matter where he places in the early contests.

Speaking to CNN Thursday, Thompson brushed off speculation that he would drop out of the race if he didn’t finish better than third in the caucuses. Watch Thompson say personal ambition is bad

On the Democratic side, Clinton, a New York senator, and Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, are battling Obama, a senator from Illinois, for their party’s nomination in a contest that has come down to two main themes: change and experience.

Clinton is working to convince Iowa caucus-goers she has the experience to enact change, while Edwards and Obama preach that she is too much of a Washington insider to bring change to the nation’s capital.

If Obama wins Thursday night, Clinton would lose the sense of inevitability she has as the national front-runner. New Hampshire polls showing Clinton tied with Obama could grow more troublesome.

But if Clinton loses to Edwards in Iowa, it could produce an Edwards-Obama showdown to be the non-Clinton candidate.

Obama, whose campaign was organizing babysitters for potential caucus-goers, said he was expecting a high turnout.

We’ve seen these enormous crowds as we travel across the state in this last week, and the weather’s been brutal, so for these folks to be coming out just to hear a candidate at the last minute, it’s doubtful they’re not going to go to caucus, he said Thursday.

Edwards — who placed second in the 2004 caucuses — swore off sleep to hold a 36-hour marathon. Watch Edwards call for an investigation of oil prices

Democratic hopeful Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico said he was feeling good in the final hours.

You know, I think a lot of the undecideds are breaking my way. Iowans make up their minds at the last minute, maybe 30 percent of them in the last three to four days, and I’m seeing good movement, he said. Watch Richardson call for a 50 mpg fuel standard

The second tier of Democratic candidates — Sens. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, and Richardson — will all need strong showings in Iowa or risk a fatal blow to their campaigns.
found here.

Storms bringing snow, high winds to West Coast

(CNN) — California is bracing for a series of powerful winter storms poised to deliver a one-two-three punch to the West Coast, bringing snow, rain and high wind throughout the Golden State, forecasters said.

The effects of the storms were already being felt Thursday.

But the National Weather Service warned a second and more powerful storm front was expected to move in Friday, and a third wave was forecast for the weekend.

Up to 4 feet of snow is possible at elevations above 5,000 feet by Saturday morning and wind gusts of up to 80 mph are possible in the region Friday, the weather service said.

The combination of heavy snow and powerful winds will likely cause frequent whiteout conditions at the highest elevations, forecasters said.

Travel over the higher passes will be very difficult, if not impossible, at times between Friday evening and Saturday morning.

In addition, up to 10 inches of precipitation was forecast for other parts of the state — rain at the lower elevations and snow in the mountains.

Forecasters warned it could be the most significant rainfall Southern California has seen since January 2005. Flash-flood watches were in effect around Los Angeles, and the possibility of mudslides loomed for hillsides scorched bare by wildfires last year.

Authorities advised homeowners in those areas to have plenty of sandbags on hand and watch for signs of flooding, The Associated Press reported.

The mission to prepare for the storms was already under way, with members of the Orange County Conservation Corps placing gravel-filled bags along an area burned last fall, according to the AP.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the state Office of Emergency Services to prepare for the bad weather.

The state is expecting a powerful series of storms that could produce blizzard conditions in the higher elevations of the Sierra, with wind gusts of more than 100 mph and 8 to 10 feet of snow forecast at above 7,000 feet, a news release from Schwarzenegger’s office said.

High wind watches and warnings covered much of California Thursday, along with a winter storm warning and a blizzard warning for the northeastern part of the state.

Rain was falling Thursday at some of the state’s lower elevations, but there was snow in the mountains, said CNN meteorologist Bonnie Schneider.

The weather already disrupted air traffic. Flights into San Francisco were delayed more than two hours Thursday because of conditions in the area, affecting air traffic throughout the country, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Shorter delays were reported in Los Angeles.

Gusty winds were reported as the front moved in. The weather service said a remote site at an elevation of 5,300 feet recorded a 70-mph wind gust early Thursday — just below hurricane strength. An offshore Coast Guard station reported a 61-mph wind gust Wednesday night.

Winds of up to 55 mph were forecast for some sites Thursday, and winds of up to 60 mph on Friday, the weather service said. Winds this strong will make driving difficult, especially for high-profile vehicles. Use extra caution.

Light to moderate rain was forecast in southern California on Thursday. But as the stronger front moves in Friday, it will bring significantly higher rainfall totals to the southern part of the state Friday and into Saturday morning, the weather service said.

In addition, the storm will bring high surf and coastal flooding, forecasters said.
found here.

Letter: Democrat told CIA not to destroy interrogation tapes

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The then-senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee urged the CIA in 2003 not to destroy videotapes it had made of the interrogations of terrorist detainees, according to the newly declassified letter.

Rep. Jane Harman wrote in a letter dated February 10, 2003, that destruction of the tapes would reflect badly on the agency.

The Democrat from California released the letter Thursday.

Last month, the CIA acknowledged videotapes were made in 2002 of two terrorist detainees but were destroyed in 2005. Some of the tapes showed the harsh interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

In the case of Zubaydah, the tactics captured on videotape included waterboarding, which simulates drowning, a controversial technique that critics consider a form of torture.

Shortly after becoming the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee in 2003, Harman was briefed on the CIA’s interrogation and detention program, and the existence of the videotapes. She was told of the intention to destroy the tapes once an internal inquiry into the program was complete.

Harman wrote her letter to the CIA’s chief lawyer urging the agency to reconsider its plan.

Even if the videotape does not constitute an official record that must be preserved under the law, the videotape would be the best proof that the written record is accurate, if such record is called into question in the future, she wrote.

The release of the letter comes a day after the Justice Department announced there is enough evidence to warrant a criminal investigation into the destruction of the CIA tapes. The inquiry will look into whether the CIA or other government officials committed crimes in the handling of the tapes.

Congressional oversight committees are independently investigating the tape destruction.

The House Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Jose Rodriguez, the former head of the CIA covert service who sources say ordered the destruction of the tapes, to testify before the panel January 16.

CIA General Counsel John Rizzo, who opposed the tape destruction, has agreed to voluntarily appear before the committee.
found here.