A little Romney Bashing? We'll even take on Chuck if we have to.

"Whoever wins Iowa could be the next president of the United States," said Democratic consultant Stephanie Cutter, adding that a compressed election schedule may put a premium on momentum this year "and Iowa can be a rocket booster."

Much is at stake: Iowa kicks off the election process Thursday with Democratic and Republican caucuses that could propel two candidates to the nomination.

Mike Huckabee says John McCain is a hero. McCain says Huckabee is a good man. And they both seem to agree on this: Mitt Romney is neither.

The Republican rivals joined Sunday to criticize Romney - McCain in New Hampshire called him a waffler, and Huckabee in Iowa questioned whether he can be trusted with the presidency, a sign of Romney's strength in both states.

Romney's camp accused the hard-charging Huckabee of "testiness and irritability," a reflection of the brass-knuckles phase of the most open presidential race in half a century.

New Hampshire votes just five days after Iowa.

The dynamics aren't quite the same on the Republican side, but GOP consultant Scott Reed said Iowa "is going to make or break three-quarters of all the candidates."

Polls show that Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards are tied for the lead in Iowa. Clinton and Obama are bunched closely in New Hampshire, too, where voters often are influenced by the results in Iowa.

The Democratic winner in Iowa will be hard to stop, especially if it's a well-funded Clinton or Obama.

As six candidates offered their closing messages on the morning talk shows, Obama acknowledged that the criticism about lack of experience in Washington might be taking a toll.

"That may have some effect, but ultimately I'm putting my faith in the people of Iowa and the people of America that they want something better," Obama told NBC's Meet the Press.

Playing the experience card, Clinton told ABC's This Week that as first lady from 1993-2001 she was "intimately involved in so much that went on in the White House, here at home and around the world."