Huckabee now 2nd in nationwide poll

WASHINGTON — Mike Huckabee has vaulted from nowhere into second place in the Republican presidential race, riding a burst of support from evangelicals, Southerners and conservatives, a nationwide poll showed Friday.

The surge by the former Arkansas governor has come largely at the expense of Fred Thompson, according to the national survey by The Associated Press and Ipsos. Thompson has dropped after failing to galvanize the party's right-wing core as much as some had expected.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani remains the front-runner. His support has been steady but shows signs of fraying.

The poll showed Giuliani at 26 percent among Republican and GOP-leaning voters, about where he has been since spring. Huckabee has 18 percent, up from 10 percent in an AP-Ipsos survey a month ago and 3 percent in July.

Arizona Sen. John McCain has 13 percent, Mitt Romney 12 percent and Thompson 11 percent.

Romney contends he's not at fault

DES MOINES, Iowa — Republican Mitt Romney denies any responsibility for hiring illegal immigrants as workers at his home, insisting it was the fault of contractors and calling for tighter federal guidelines to verify the status of workers.

Asked Friday if he shouldn't go the "extra mile" because of his business background and his strong advocacy of clamping down on illegal immigration in his presidential bid, the former Massachusetts governor said: "And what's the extra mile? So for instance, if I go to a restaurant, do I make sure all the waiters there are all legal?"

This week, he fired the landscaper for his suburban Boston home after learning for a second time about illegal immigrants working on the property.

McCain says he'd return to Senate

HAMPSTEAD, N.H. — John McCain has an automatic response to the question of what he'd do if he lost the GOP presidential-nomination contest.

"Back to the Senate," the Arizona Republican said Friday.

He'd have two more years left in his fourth term. What about running for a fifth term in 2010?

"I haven't even thought about it much but right now, I can see no reason not to run again," he said. McCain, 71, has served in the Senate since 1986.

Flowers may vote for the other Clinton

This one's bigger than Pat Robertson endorsing Rudy Giuliani: Gennifer Flowers may vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Bill Clinton's onetime paramour said she'd like to put a woman in the White House, though she also likes Republican Mitt Romney (he has integrity) and Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden (he has experience, and "I think he's sexy").

"I think that, actually, Hillary and I have a lot in common," said Flowers, who favors abortion rights but is fiscally conservative. "We're both very strong women."

Flowers, 57, who recently relocated to Las Vegas from New Orleans after a divorce, is still doing her cabaret act of singing, dancing and telling Viagra jokes. She also has a role in an upcoming reality show about plastic surgeons. ("Honey, I've had all sorts of cosmetic surgery.")

"I have been determined to not only survive but thrive ... and I think she's done the same thing," Flowers said of Clinton, adding that she feels she got to know the New York senator "pretty well" through Bill.

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