Club for Growth to launch anti-Huckabee ads in Iowa and South Carolina

The Club for Growth, an anti-tax advocacy group, will launch Monday a national advertising campaign depicting Mike Huckabee (R) as an eager proponent of tax increases while he was governor of Arkansas.

The first round of advertising, costing $175,000, will run on broadcast and statewide cable television in Iowa, where Huckabee is leading the GOP presidential pack by a narrow margin. They will also run on statewide cable TV in South Carolina and nationwide on Fox News Channel.

{mosads}The ad shows a younger, portly Huckabee as governor in 2003 addressing a special session of the Arkansas legislature, which he convened solve a budget impasse.

The clip shows Huckabee telling state lawmakers that he would “very happily” sign a wholesale tobacco tax, and calling a proposed surcharge on income tax “acceptable” and a proposed sales tax “fine.”

Opening with a montage of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, and House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), the ad warns Republicans of a major tax battle raging in Washington and reminds them: “Conservatives have to be united.”

Voters are urged to call Huckabee and ask why he supported so many tax proposals.

Nachama Soloveichik, spokeswoman for Club for Growth, said the organization would increase the size of the buy “dramatically as we go along.”

"It won’t be small potatoes,” she added, although she declined to say how much money the group would spend.

A spokeswoman for Huckabee did not immediately return a request for comment.

Huckabee and the Club for Growth have sparred over his Arkansas record for months.

The group aired a critical television spot in Iowa in August. Huckabee has nicknamed his antagonist “The Club for Greed.”

The Club for Growth is funding the ads through a subsidiary under section 527 of the tax code, ClubforGrowth.net. The affiliate has raised $150,000 and spent $330,000 so far this year, according to CQ MoneyLine, a website that tracks political finance.