I’m not sure if Huckabee’s win forced the whole party to the left, but I think that Huckabee’s win gave Rudy a boost nationally.
There are a whole lot of Republicans out there who would vote for anyone who could win, not just beat Hillary, but first beat Huckabee and McCain. The Iowa Republicans may have inadvertantly given Giuliani a boost.
That having been said, Rudy lost significantly last night. Just saying “I didn’t try!” doesn’t excuse a loss to Ron Paul by more than 5%. Rudy has to come up big (at least a 2nd place) in either NH or MI or he won’t be alive when Florida, NY,NJ and CA roll around.