BOSTON (Reuters) – Mike Huckabee holds a small lead in the field of potential Republican presidential candidates, while Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin have slipped, according to a Gallup Poll released on Friday.

Gallup's survey of 1,000 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents taken on March 18-22 put support for former Arkansas Governor Huckabee at 19 percent.

Huckabee has been creeping up, from 18 percent last month, while backing for Romney has slipped from 16 percent in February and 19 percent in November. Palin, who held at 16 percent since September, dropped to 12 percent in the latest poll.

Gallup said its poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Sixteen percent of Republicans currently have no preference in the upcoming contest for the Republican nomination for 2012, the poll said, and most leading contenders have not yet committed to run.

The presidential election is 18 months away, but there is widespread interest in who will face President Barack Obama, a Democrat. The first Republican primary elections to select their nominee will start in February.

Observers think Romney, now on a nationwide fund-raising swing, will almost certainly announce a second run for his party's nomination after falling short in 2008 to John McCain.

Prospects are less certain for Huckabee, a 2008 candidate who hosts a television show on Fox News.

Palin, who was McCain's running mate in 2008, also has a lucrative media career.

The poll also showed that if Huckabee does not run, Palin would be the most likely to pick up his supporters, and Huckabee would benefit if Palin does not run.

Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, has said he could announce a run for the nomination in May. He ran fourth in the Gallup poll with 10 percent support, up slightly from 9 percent the previous month.

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty on Monday announced an exploratory committee, the first high-profile Republican to show serious intent for 2012. He had 3 percent support in the Gallup poll, the same as a month ago.

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who will campaign in the key early-voting state of New Hampshire next week, each captured just 2 percent of potential voters in the poll.

(Editing by Jerry Norton and Vicki Allen)

MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) – Wisconsin Republicans said on Friday a measure stripping state public employees of most collective bargaining rights was now in effect after it was published by a legislative agency despite a judge's order against publication.

The move looked certain to stir fresh controversy over the legislation, which in recent weeks sparked huge demonstrations and ignited a national struggle over efforts by several budget-strapped state governments to rein in union power.

Democratic state senators fled the state in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to block a vote on the bill, seen as one of the biggest challenges in decades facing U.S. organized labor.

Republican supporters of the law said the judge's temporary restraining order on publication had not applied to the Legislative Reference Bureau, which published the legislation, Wisconsin Act 10, electronically on Friday.

Legal publication of the legislation is required for it to go into effect.

The restraining order was issued last week by a judge hearing a complaint by the Dane County district attorney against several Republican legislators who orchestrated the law's passage two weeks ago. Dane County encompasses the state capital, Madison.

Scott Fitzgerald, head of the Republican-controlled state Senate, said the bureau's action made the bill "the law" and insisted the action did not violate the restraining order because that did not mention the bureau specifically.

"If the DA didn't want the Legislative Reference Bureau to publish, then the DA should have made sure that they were part of the restraining order."

Mike Huebsch, a member of Republican Governor Scott Walker's Cabinet, said the administration would now "carry out the law as required."

The LRB is a nonpartisan agency whose director is appointed by the leaders of the Wisconsin State Assembly and Wisconsin State Senate -- both Republicans who support the measure.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which has defended the bill in court, called the publication "lawful" and said it would evaluate how the LRB move "affects pending litigation."

The move seemed to catch Democrats by surprise. A spokeswoman for Pete Barca, the top Democrat in the state Assembly, asked journalists seeking comment to be patient.

"We're seeking information from various sources," Melanie Conklin wrote in an e-mail, "hoping for further clarification soon."

Walker pushed the legislation, saying it was part of a package needed to combat the state's budget deficit.

Union and Democratic critics said that argument was a smokescreen for busting state workers' unions.

(Writing by James Kelleher; Editing by Jerry Norton)

ATLANTA (Reuters) – A man suspected of killing one police officer and wounding another in Athens, Georgia, surrendered to police and also freed at least four hostages he was holding in a home there on Friday.

The suspect, Jamie Hood, 33, was shown in custody handcuffed and shirtless as he surrendered on live local television, which he had demanded as a condition for turning himself in, local media said.

"The situation has ended," 11Alive News TV reporter Doug Richards said at the scene at about 11:20 p.m.

Negotiations for Hood's surrender lasted about seven hours. Dozens of armed law enforcement officers surrounded the home and they emerged with Hood along with four women and one man.

At least four of those were hostages, local media said.

According to the Athens Banner-Herald newspaper, Hood was concerned for his safety because his brother was shot dead by police in 2001 after he held a gun to an officer's head.

"I know that he is concerned with his personal safety. And I want to promise him that if he will surrender unarmed that he will not be harmed in any form or fashion," Vernon Keenan, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, had told reporters earlier.

Police said Hood on Tuesday afternoon killed Officer Elmer "Buddy" Christian and wounded officer Tony Howard.

Hood opened fire after officers stopped him while investigating a carjacking, police said.

Friday marked the fourth day of searching for Hood. Earlier in the day, Athens-Clarke County Police posted messages on Facebook and Twitter asking Hood to turn himself in.

Local media had reported that Hood held eight hostages in the apartment after being cornered by police. Shortly after 8:30 p.m., Hood released two men and two children.

Athens is about 60 miles east of Atlanta and home to the University of Georgia.

(Reporting by David Beasley and Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Jerry Norton and Peter Bohan)