Huckabee calls for stronger military

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee appealed to Iowa conservatives on two fronts Saturday, calling for a stronger military and stronger families.

Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who jumped to a lead in Iowa polls this month, wants a drastic increase in regular forces to ease the strain on National Guard and reserve units being called up for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We need to have a larger regular force to make sure we are capable if we do have to go into battle," he told about 120 people in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

On his final stretch of campaigning before Christmas, Huckabee underlined his lifelong opposition to abortion and gay marriage, issues that will likely drive many churchgoers to the Jan. 3 caucuses in Iowa.

Clinton enlists mom, daughter to recruit

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Seeking to end the statistical dead heat with Barack Obama in New Hampshire, Hillary Rodham Clinton enlisted her daughter and mother in a New Hampshire campaign swing.

While mother Dorothy Rodham stayed on the sidelines, daughter Chelsea Clinton briefly stole the show Friday.

"Princess Diana!" one fan screamed as a willowy Chelsea Clinton, 27, entered a coffee shop.

"You are great!" one man in the capital, Concord, gushed.

"I have good role models," the younger Clinton replied.

Clinton's mother and daughter toured with her again Saturday as part of an effort to attract more female voters, one of the New York senator's strongest demographics.

With a new poll showing 40 percent of New Hampshire voters from both parties undecided in the Jan. 8 primary, Clinton sought to portray herself as a road-tested candidate who could reach across party lines. Under New Hampshire's flexible voting-registration laws, balloters can switch parties on primary day.

"A lot of problems we face are not Democratic or Republican problems, they are America's problems," Clinton said.

Seattle Times news services