GOP rivals reverse roles

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KALAMAZOO, Mich. — John McCain and Mike Huckabee traded places yesterday, with the war-hawk senator preaching Judeo-Christian values and the ordained Southern Baptist minister talking bullets and bombs at an armored-vehicle plant.

"We can't leave people behind. That's not America," Mr. McCain said about laid-off workers in an impassioned speech to students and teachers at a Christian high school here. "We're a Judeo-Christian values nation. We're not going to leave these people behind."

Mr. McCain, who won the New Hampshire primary last week and vaulted into the front-runner position for the Republican presidential nomination, has spent the last week trying to lock down independent voters, including evangelicals, who delivered a win to Mr. Huckabee in the Iowa caucuses two weeks ago.

Mr. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who was barely a blip on the Michigan state polls before his Iowa win, has climbed steadily and now stands solidly in third place, behind Mr. McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who are tied at the top.

Michigan votes today in the nation's second primary.

Mr. Huckabee changed his schedule to campaign for several days in the state and, like Mr. McCain, is looking for momentum as the race shifts to South Carolina on Saturday.

Looking to swipe voters from Mr. McCain, Mr. Huckabee pitched national security and military strength yesterday during a stop in Lansing. With a huge armored truck as a backdrop, he said Michigan has long led the nation with "its capacity to build and manufacture our airplanes and our tanks and our armored vehicles, our bullets and our bombs."

Deploying rhetoric usually used by Mr. McCain, the former governor said the U.S. cannot jeopardize its national security by becoming beholden to other nations for manufacturing needs.

"Every one of you in this plant truly represents something of significance, because you are reminding us that our ability to design and build our own weapons of self-defense is part of what keeps us free," the minister told a group of steelworkers at Demmer Corp.

The day of trading roles illustrated the fervor with which the Republican presidential candidates are stumping for votes as they crisscross the state in a last-ditch effort to finish strong here. All three have traded barbs over jobs and the economy, and yesterday was no different as Mr. Huckabee took a swipe at Mr. Romney.