CONCORD – He's the hot commodity in Iowa, the new leader in the latest Republican presidential poll in the first-caucus state. And after a strong performance in the Wednesday night CNN-YouTube debate, he's today's darling of the national news media.

But how is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee playing in New Hampshire? Can he emerge from the single-digit morass in which he has polled here all year?

And how will he play in the first-primary state between now and Jan. 8? Huckabee's three-day visit, which begins at midday today with an appearance before the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce, will begin to provide the answer. His campaign says the social conservative will be introduced by pro-choice, pro-civil unions Democratic Gov. John Lynch, who befriended Huckabee while both were members of the National Governors Association.

Republican Presidential hopeful, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, left, with actor Chuck Norris, gestures as he answers a reporter's question during a lunch with journalists in Washington yesterday. (AP)

In Iowa, Huckabee's surge is significantly fueled by his growing appeal to Christian evangelicals, a big voting bloc in that state but a small segment of the GOP-leaning electorate in more libertarian New Hampshire.

In Iowa, Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, has a new ad airing that calls him a "Christian leader" and draws from his recent speech to the Values Voters Summit in which he says, "Let us never sacrifice our principles for anybody's politics, not now, not ever."

He hasn't advertised on television in New Hampshire yet, and when he does, it won't be with that ad, certainly. But according to his campaign manager and a chief supporter, he's not trying to hide anything.

"He's never shied away from his faith when he's here," said state campaign manager Debra Vander Beek. "He has said that his faith defines him, but he talks about all sorts of issues. That's just part of it.

"The media has tried to put him in that evangelical box, and you just can't do it," Vander Beek said.

Faith and politics

State Sen. Robert Clegg, a leading Huckabee supporter, said, "He's using an ad that works in Iowa. I think his New Hampshire advertising will be different. He hasn't hid religion since day one, but he'll do ads in New Hampshire on infrastructure and education and what do we do about bringing jobs back home."

"Faith and Politics" is listed at the top issue on his campaign Web site, which quotes him as saying, "My faith is my life -- it defines me. My faith doesn't influence my decisions, it drives them."

Although Huckabee has spent about 40 days in the first-primary state, Vander Beek said that only in recent weeks has he been getting broad attention.

"People say, 'Where's he been?' Well, he's been here. The activists know it, and we have a broad swath of people who have lined up behind him."

The visit that begins today will by far be his most important. That's not just because it's getting late in the campaign. And it's not just because today he is expected to be followed by a full-blown news media horde.

Today opens Huckabee's opportunity to parlay his Iowa surge and the attention he attracted nationally by his strong debate performance, into real traction in the first-primary state.

The New Hampshire expectations for Huckabee were laid out clearly less than three weeks ago by Huckabee himself. He said in Seabrook that regardless of how he does in Iowa on Jan. 3, "Quite frankly, if it doesn't happen in New Hampshire for me, it's not going to happen."

Door wide open

It may be starting to happen. A poll is expected today from the Manchester-based American Research Group showing Huckabee breaking though into double-digits and into a statistical tie for third place in New Hampshire, according to ARG president Dick Bennett.

State Republican Chairman Fergus Cullen is not surprised at Huckabee's rise.

"He's personable. He shows a sense of humor. He tends to deflect attacks very well. He had very skilled answers on issues, such as on the debate questions about undocumented immigrants and the death penalty. He gave a great answer on that."

Cullen said the "Christian leader" ad "may not be the kind of ad he'd broadcast in New Hampshire. In past election cycles, people in New Hampshire would never see the ad. Now, with the Internet, we can see that they're doing a targeted message. When you see Huckabee here, his appeal of faith and religion are usually indirect. He does not play that up here." Cullen said he considered that approach "good politics" rather than inconsistency.

Bennett of the American Research Group said Huckabee had the best answer to a YouTuber's question on whether the candidates take the Bible literally.

"He said it is the word of God and some of it is allegorical," Bennett said. "It was the same answer as Rudy Giuliani's, but he stated it better."

Bennett said the door remains wide open for Huckabee in New Hampshire, because his poll and others show that voters "are still deciding."

Social conservatives

Huckabee supporter Clegg said that to capitalize on the fluid electorate, the candidate must "split time between Iowa and New Hampshire" the rest of the way, "because New Hampshire voters want to see you eye-to-eye."

Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, said Huckabee "does have a couple of problems in New Hampshire, and the biggest one is that we don't have a socially conservative Republican electorate here for him to appeal to. There are several other candidates going for that same type of electorate."

He said his polling has shown that only about one-third of the Republican electorate say they attend religious services once a week. And not all of them fit the evangelical label.

"I don't think you can win in New Hampshire as a social conservative unless you get all the social conservatives," Smith said.

In New Hampshire, Huckabee has promoted himself as a fiscal conservative. Yet, as governor, he raised taxes on gasoline and cigarettes and signed a 3 percent surcharge on the state income tax.

Clegg, well-known at the New Hampshire State House as a fiscal conservative, said Huckabee was forced by a fiscal crisis in his state and by an uncooperative legislature to accept the lawmakers' wishes.

As a candidate, Huckabee calls for an end to the federal income tax and the Internal Revenue Service and the imposition of a "fair tax," which is a 23 percent sales tax on all new goods and services.

"The tax will apply only to new goods, so we can reduce our taxes further by buying a used car or computer," Huckabee says on his Web site. "All of us will get a monthly rebate that will reimburse us for taxes on purchases up to the poverty line, so that we're not taxed on necessities."

Clegg says that since Huckabee's plan would eliminate corporate income taxes, "we would get closer to paying for the real cost of an item and we would get closer to actual competition" between domestic and foreign-made goods.

But Smith said, "Any radical tax plan in the United States is looked at with skepticism by Republicans and Democrats, just like Steve Forbes' flat tax. It's one of those things that's easy to nitpick."