GOP candidates turn up the volume

The nasty tone of the Republican presidential nomination fight turned sharper Sunday as Mike Huckabee accused Mitt Romney of waging a dishonest campaign.

“Mitt Romney is running a very desperate and, frankly, dishonest campaign,” the former Arkansas governor said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” four days ahead of the Iowa caucuses. “He’s attacked me. . . . When Mitt Romney went after the integrity of John McCain, he stepped across a line.”

His comments reflect the tightness of the campaign here and in New Hampshire.

A Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll conducted Wednesday through Saturday suggested Huckabee’s lead among Iowa Republicans might be ebbing. The poll found him in a statistical tie with Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, after Huckabee had led in other recent polls.

Huckabee’s comments referred to the three-way fight between him, Romney and Arizona Sen. McCain, which is being waged mostly through interviews, television ads and mailings.

In Iowa, where Romney’s summer lead disappeared under Huckabee’s autumn ascendancy, Romney ads have asserted that Huckabee raised taxes and reduced drug sentences when he was governor.

In New Hampshire, where Romney’s challenge comes from McCain, Romney ads bashed McCain over a vote against President Bush’s tax cuts and McCain’s immigration record.

McCain aired a rebuttal ad highlighting two newspaper “anti-endorsements” of Romney, including one by the Concord Monitor that called Romney a “phony.”

Appearing Sunday on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” McCain dismissed Romney’s complaint about the ads.

“Welcome to the arena,” McCain said. “I didn’t say those words. Those were the Concord Monitor. . . . I paid for the ad that put up the words of the respected newspapers here in the state of New Hampshire. And I think that’s perfectly appropriate.”

But McCain seemed to step away from his ad when asked whether Romney was a phony.

“No,” McCain said. “I think he’s a person who’s changed his positions on many issues.”

On “Meet the Press,” Huckabee acknowledged that Romney’s sharp-toned and “relentless” ads might have hurt him. “People in Iowa have been bombarded,” he said.

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden defended the ads and accused Huckabee of “testiness and irritability.”

“Mike Huckabee’s lashing out with personal attacks against Gov. Romney that have no merit or substance is quite unfortunate,” he said. “Campaigns should be about the issues.”

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scott.martelle@latimes.com

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