MANCHESTER – A former Baptist minister and Arkansas governor, a man who lost 110 pounds with a manic regimen of running after being diagnosed with diabetes in 2003, is making the Republican presidential contest a real sprint.

Who in the world is Mike Huckabee?

"He's Mr. Personality," said Phyllis Woods, a New Hampshire member to the Republican National Committee, who remains impartial for the Primary.

Is he becoming Mr. Right?

In a national poll yesterday, Huckabee captured a second place, a feat that may prompt New Hampshire voters to give him a second look.

Huckabee is surging, and no longer just in Iowa, where evangelical support has him in a statistical dead heat with another former governor, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. The new national poll indicates the folksy politician has broader support than just evangelicals, southerners and conservatives.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani leads in The Associated Press/Ipsos poll with 26 percent. Huckabee had 18 percent, Sen. John McCain had 13 percent, Romney 12 percent and Fred Thompson 11 percent.

An American Research Group poll of likely Republican Primary voters a week ago found Huckabee third in New Hampshire. The poll had Romney at 36 percent, Giuliani at 22 percent and Huckabee at 13 percent, just ahead of McCain at 11 percent, with 12 percent of those surveyed undecided.

Woods, the RNC member from Dover, said Huckabee is more popular on a national level because he has performed well in presidential debates. She said religion does not set Huckabee apart in the New Hampshire Primary race. "Christian conservatives in the Republican Party in New Hampshire are equally spread (among candidates)," she said.

Huckabee's turnaround shows the importance of the early nominating states and the value of the New Hampshire Primary, where campaigns must make personal connections to succeed, according to Woods.

"Huckabee makes a good impression one on one," she said.

Bob Clegg, a state senator and a Huckabee adviser, said Huckabee's New Hampshire supporters come from all over the political map.

"I can't just pin his New Hampshire support on conservatives," Clegg said. "He's not negative. He talks about the issues. He talks about uniting the country."

Huckabee supporters include Fred Bramante, a member of the state Board of Education and a former gubernatorial candidate, and former executive councilors David Wheeler of Milford and Ruth Griffin of Portsmouth.

Clegg says Huckabee just has a knack for making friends. Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, even praised Huckabee when he introduced the former governor at a recent event in Concord. Huckabee, a past chairman of the National Governors' Association, befriended Lynch when he first took office

And where Democrat Barack Obama has Oprah Winfrey tomorrow in Manchester, Huckabee has action star Chuck Norris campaigning with him next weekend in Londonderry.