Huckabee "an absolute disaster as governor of Arkansas... Every time there was any enforcement in his state, he took the side of the illegal aliens." Huckabee responded by saying if voters are looking for the toughest guy on immigration, he's not their man. Nevertheless, like many in the Republican party, Huckabee's position has evolved, particularly after the bruising immigration reform fight in summer 2007. On December 6, 2007, he released a nine-point immigration enforcement and border security plan. These were modeled on a ten-point plan proposed in 2005 by Mark Krikorian. On January 16, 2008, Huckabee became the first presidential candidate to sign Americans for Better Immigration's No-Amnesty pledge. In response, Roy Beck's organization raised his rating on illegal immigration to EXCELLENT. Huckabee continues to speak for the dignity of legal immigrants. In the January 10 Republican debate he said that all immigrants "ought to live with their heads up. We ought to have the assumption that everybody here is legal, that nobody here is illegal." First quarter 2008: caucuses and primaries begin On January 3, 2008, actual delegate selections began. Huckabee was declared the winner of the Iowa Republican caucus, with 34 percent of the vote, nine percentage points ahead of his chief Iowa rival, Mitt Romney. On January 8, 2008, Huckabee finished third place in the New Hampshire primary, behind John McCain in first place, and Mitt Romney who finished second, with Huckabee receiving one more delegate for a total of 18 delegates, gained via elections, and 21 total delegates, verses 30 total (24 via elections) for Romney, and 10 for McCain (all via elections). On January 15, 2008, Huckabee finished in third place in the Michigan primary, behind John McCain in second place, Mitt Romney who finished first and ahead of Ron Paul, who finished in fourth place. On January 19, 2008, Huckabee finished in second place in the South Carolina primary, behind John McCain who finished first. On February 5, 2008, Huckabee won the first contest of "Super Tuesday" by winning the West Virginia GOP state convention by winning 52% of the electorate to Mitt Romney's 47%. Backers of rival John McCain threw him their support to prevent Mitt Romney from capturing the winner-take-all GOP state convention vote. He also registered victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee on Super Tuesday, bringing his delegate count up to 156, a distant third compared to 689 for Republican