By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer 

How important is faith to you when selecting a candidate for president? Read and Respond.

Posted Dec. 2, 2007 – There’s a new frontrunner among the  Republican presidential candidates according to a recent poll of likely Iowa caucus-goers.  The Des Moines Register poll released on Saturday revealed that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has edged out Mitt Gov. Romney to take over the top spot in the GOP race to the White House. Huckabee now has 29 percent, to  Romney’s 24 percent and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s 13 percent.

Huckabee was 17 points behind Romney in a similar poll taken in October.
Huckabee isn’t the only candidate making waves this weekend.  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who only netted 7 percent in the Iowa poll, walked away with the coveted endorsement of the conservative Manchester Union Leader newspaper.

  Publisher Joe McQuaid, who penned the endorsement, cited McCain as the candidate who understands the threats to the United States and has prove[d] his right to criticize the Bush administration’s prosecution of the War on Terror; fights against earmarks; has  a strong anti-abortion position and can work across party lines.
The recent surge by Huckabee and endorsement for McCain could be why Romney’s camp announced Sunday that the former Massachusetts governor would be giving a speech Thursday, titled “Faith in America.”

Kevin Madden, spokesman for the campaign, said, “This speech is an opportunity for Gov. Romney to share his views on religious liberty, the grand tradition religious tolerance has played in the progress of our nation and how the governor’s own faith would inform his presidency if he were elected.”
The speech is slated to take place at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas.  Madden said, “Gov. Romney personally made the decision to deliver this speech some time last week.” 

Religion has been the one issue Romney can’t seem to explain well enough to Iowa voters.  We’ll have to see if this speech makes the difference in Iowa and in other early primary states, like South Carolina. 

“Gov. Romney understands that faith is an important issue to many Americans, and he personally feels this moment is the right moment for him to share his views with the nation,” Madden said.