Bruising fight ahead for Huckabee

By Ed Stoddard

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an affable Baptist preacher, won over Iowans with his religiosity and charm, outfoxing rival Mitt Romney who heavily out-spent him.

Huckabee on Thursday won the Republican caucuses in Iowa, the first U.S. state to nominate candidates for the November 2008 election.

He relied on an informal network of conservative bloggers and evangelical Christians to compensate for Romney's huge financial advantage and negative ads aimed at his record.

Religion plays a big role in the United States, where levels of belief and church attendance are much higher than in Europe. Evangelicals number around 60 million in the country of 300 million people.

His opposition to abortion and gay marriage -- rallying cries for the party's evangelical base -- was shared by the rest of the Republican field with the notable exception of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

But he was able to win over the critical constituency in the midwestern state by effectively portraying himself as one of their own -- pious, humble and a good old boy to boot who likes to hunt and fish.

Huckabee was raised in Hope, Arkansas, the hometown of former President Bill Clinton, and won over many supporters with a sense of humour that landed him on Jay Leno's top-ranked late night "Tonight Show." Huckabee even demonstrated his bass guitar playing on the show.

Huckabee, 52, made some apparent missteps along the way which brought him criticism from some quarters but not from his conservative supporters in the heartland.