Mike Huckabee's presidential rivals are pointing to chinks in his record as Arkansas' governor -- from ethics complaints to tax increases to illegal immigration and his support for releasing a rapist who was later convicted of killing a Missouri woman.

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The Republican presidential candidate has plenty to champion from his 10½ years as governor -- including school improvements and health insurance for the children of the working poor. But opponents say his record has rough edges.

Other campaigns for the GOP nomination, watching Huckabee's rise in polls in Iowa, are starting to mine his past for political fodder.

The most recent ABC/Washington Post poll has Huckabee’s support in Iowa rising from 8 percent in late July to 24 percent now. Mitt Romney has 28 percent support, essentially unchanged from 26 percent in July.

The latest New York Times/CBS poll in Iowa shows Romney with 27 percent support, Huckabee with 21 percent and Rudy Giuliani with 15 percent.

Strategic Vision polled only Republicans in Iowa recently and found that Romney had 30 percent support, Huckabee had 19 percent and Giuliani 12 percent.

Ethics Questioned

"People are starting to contact us and they're saying we want everything on Mike Huckabee," said Graham Sloan, director of the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

What they'll find is 436 pages of documents chronicling Huckabee's various tangles with a commission he's derided as a political tool of Democrats. It's a panel that has held proceedings 20 times on the former governor and lieutenant governor.

But the Ethics Commission files don't cover everything, and this year -- anticipating criticism -- Huckabee's campaign set up a "truth squad" to push his side of various stories.

The squad said the only finding by the Arkansas Ethics Commission that Huckabee accepted a gift improperly was tossed out by a state court. However, the panel investigated 16 complaints against Huckabee and found five violations. Only one, for accepting a $500 canoe from Coca-Cola, was tossed out.

Convicted Rapist Released

Huckabee has consistently understated his role in the parole of rapist Wayne DuMond, who had been convicted in the 1984 rape of a distant cousin of former President Bill Clinton.

Two months after taking office, Huckabee stunned the state by saying he questioned DuMond's guilt and that it was his intention to free the rapist, who had been castrated by masked men while awaiting trial. He said then he had "serious questions as to the legitimacy of his guilt" and acknowledged later that he had met with DuMond's wife about the case while he was lieutenant governor. Two months after ascending to the governor's office, Huckabee met with the woman again.

He now blames his predecessor for making DuMond parole eligible -- Jim Guy Tucker commuted a life-plus-20 years sentence to 39½ years -- but distances himself from his role in DuMond's release.

Huckabee met privately with the state parole board, and two members have said he pressured them for a vote.

Tough On Taxes?

Huckabee likes to say he was tough on taxes in Arkansas, noting a $100 million tax cut in 1997 that until this year was Arkansas' largest. When asked about a fuel tax increase he backed in 1999, Huckabee said incorrectly that he joined 80 percent of Arkansas voters in approving it.

Huckabee in 1999 supported a $1 billion highway bond program, including costs for interest and lawyers' fees, but the question on the ballot was only whether the state could take on the debt, not how Arkansas would pay for it. Huckabee had signed the fuel tax increase two months earlier.

Shortly after taking office, Huckabee took a four-day trip by bass boat along the Arkansas River to tout a 1/8th-cent sales tax increase for outdoor programs. (Two nature centers now carry the names of Huckabee and his wife.) Taxes went up $40 million in the months before the $100 million tax cut Huckabee touts.

Immigration Stance Changes

Huckabee now takes a strong stand on immigration, including an intolerance toward companies that employ illegal immigrants. But he opposed a state Republican lawmaker's efforts in 2005 to require proof of legal status when applying for state services that aren't federally mandated and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Huckabee derided the bill as un-American and un-Christian.

That same year, Huckabee failed in his effort to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for state-funded scholarships and in-state tuition to Arkansas colleges. At the time, Huckabee said he didn't understand the opposition to it.