From out of nowhere comes Mike Huckabee
Early in the year, when Mike Huckabee announced he was running for President, the Club For Growth opened up with a salvo of attack ads that were aimed at burying Huckabee and consigning him to the also ran category. They thought they had the battle won and then, Huckabee started making his upward move. This movement was based on the man and his message and it is working.
The Washington Post has an article citing the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll and Huckabee is tied for the lead in Iowa. Not only that, but Huckabee is now tied for second in Texas and in some national polls and his support has every sign of growing stronger every day. His fundraising is up as well and this will allow the campaign to insert itself into places where it has not gone before.
Much of Huckabee’s support is coming from the conservatives and he is actively competing for their support with Mitt Romney. Fred Thompson is only an afterthought for the conservatives and Huckabee has moved past him. David Knowles, from The Political Machine, has an interesting observation.
While much of Mitt Romney’s campaign has been spent trying to convince voters that he is the real conservative in the pack, a direct comparison of conservative credentials (especially of the social variety) is not necessarily one that Romney wants to partake in with Huckabee. The latter exudes sincerity on the conservative question. Romney, on the other hand, has to continually make his case.
That’s the difference between Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, when it comes to being a conservative. Romney is working like a dog, just to prove he is a conservative and Huckabee is sailing right along, comfortable in the fact that he always has been and always will be a conservative.
So, despite all the Club For Growth, The American Spectator, and Phyllis Schlafly and her Eagle Forum can do, Mike Huckabee is still alive and moving up fast, coming out of nowhere to threaten the candidates they had already decided would be in the top tier. They have to wonder, where in the world did he come from.
That’s my take!
Larry
The Hucksters “message” has been reinvented from who the man is only a short time ago. Club For Growth didn’t pick him out of a hat, the man is a tax and spend Liberal.
He also has considerable problems with ethical behavior and he has no problem infringing our rights to so what he thinks is “best”.
There are plenty of thirs world countries he can go and dictate to…He won’t do it here.
Winghunter,
We have already been through this before and this dog just will not hunt. Mike Huckabee is the same man he was while Governor of Arkansas. He most certainly is not a tax and spend liberal. He was dealing with a Democrat controlled state legislature and there was a limited amount that he could accomplish. You need to research the Club For Growth and find out who they are. You will find their biggest donor is a man who has a personal vendetta against Mike Huckabee.
As far as ethical behavior problems, those were all a part of Arkansas politics and he has been cleared of any wrong doing. I also challenge you to show me any one instance where he infringed on our rights to do what he thinks is best.
I think the establishment needs to take a very close look at the grassroots support behind both Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul… both have a strong following amoung the “avarege guy” and are surging, while the candiates favored by the canidates simply don’t elicit that type of support from people. Huckabee and Paul supporters are passionate about their canidates. People are tired of the status quo and making their voices known. If the GOP wants a chance, it needs to listen to the people.
On the rights issue, We will have to disagree there larry… but I do belive that Huckabee has the best intentions. I do think he tends to infringe on our rights to “protect” us, but then I tend to lean libertarian, so I have a little different take on things. A couple mionr examples: smoking laws, seatbelts laws, helmit laws…