IowaPolitics.com BlogWatch

Iowa GOP Chairman Stew Iverson revealed Monday two of the big draws
for the Republican state convention in Des Moines on June 14. Former
presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who is now rumored to be a
leading VP contender, will make an appearance. Also in attendance will
be former House speaker Newt Gingrich. It looks like the jockeying in
Iowa for 2012 might already be beginning...

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Newt_Gingrich, RPI

TRS watched and compared John McCain's "Face the Nation" appearance
this morning with Mike Huckabee's on the Canis Lupus' "Late Edition".
It certainly appears that we are watching the birth of the 2008
ticketAs expected, both candidates subjected the suggestion that Huck
drop out of the race to complete derision. Both Huck and Mac delivered
hard and rather personal attacks on Mitt; both Huck and Mac emphasized
the inconsistency in Mitt's positions. In a very powerful attack, Huck
built off Mitt's Peterine denial of the Reagan/Bush legacy back in
Mitt's '94 Senate Campaign against Edward Kennedy...

Labels: John_McCain, Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

Duncan Hunter endorsed Mike Huckabee today. Some pundits treat the endorsement as de minimis because Duncan doesn't bring a ton of his own voters to the table. However, there is a hidden value-Hunter's incredible value as a surrogate. Most Republicans felt that Hunter's foreign policy and geostrategic vision are spot on but never seriously considered his candidacy because of name ID or political electability. Hunter helps Huck complete a blank in the resume.

Labels: Duncan_Hunter, Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

Cleaning out the desk area on caucus materials, this should have been put up sooner, since the focus has moved to New Hampshire tomorrow, so my apologies. Of the 14 Northwest Iowa counties we cover, 10 went for Mike Huckabee and four for Mitt Romney. Romney's four are adjacent to each other: Monona, Woodbury, Ida and Plymouth counties. But two of the counties only narrowly went for Romney - Ida by two votes and Monona by 22 (117 Romney, 95 Huckabee). Factor in that three counties went very heavily for Huckabee, and it's clear Romney never really caught hold outside Sioux City. Romney supporter Christopher Rants said he felt good about the backing in his "little corner of the world," but it was a pretty small corner.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

So, the mainstream media, including Rush, is trying to pin Huckabee's win, in part, on a large turnout of so-called "evangelical Christians". Ha. Albeit anecdotal evidence, our precinct had a majority of Methodists, with just a couple of us "holier-than-thou" Baptists in attendance. Methodists tend not to be evangelical, but would consider themselves pretty "middle of the road," at least compared to us fire-and-brimestone Baptists. (Man, I hope I didn't start a cross-town war between the churches with that statement.)

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

Back in 2005, when Mike Huckabee was hardly a household name, there was one true believer who focused on his task. I talked to Eric Woolson on the phone one day soon after he had decided to work with Huckabee's fledgling campaign. "Mike WHO?" I remember asking, thinking that my phone had cut out a bit while Woolson uttered the unfamiliar name. "Mike Huckabee," he said again. Knowing that Eric and I couldn't be further apart in our views on politics, and knowing his past preference for religious, conservative candidates, I smiled to myself and half-heartedly wished him well. That'll never work... is what I was really thinking.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

Before I am headed off to Le Mars this morning to hang out with Chris Dodd, I popped open my laptop, fully expecting to see the Des Moines Register unleash a new Iowa Poll this morning. In 2004, the Register released new numbers about the race on the Sunday before the voting transpired. Apparently not so this year. These next two new polls confirm that Romney has successfully brought Mike Huckabee down a few notches, but yet, Huckabee still remains in a strong enough position to pull out a win yet.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

It's about 7:10 p.m. on a Thursday and I'm seated in the back of a ballroom at a West Des Moines hotel (in the same room where Mitt Romney held a party for over 1000 supporters last week). Republican presidential candidate/former Arkansas Governor/Baptist minister Mike Huckabee soon will be speaking here to a large group, already seated on chairs, in a "We the People" seminar that's being explained right now by someone who has the microphone in the front of the room.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

If Ron Paul doesn't get the Republican nomination I'll probably vote
for whoever the Libertarian Party runs. (By the way, that might just
be Dr. Paul since the L.P. has offered him the slot if the GOP doesn't
want him.) But I'm always curious if the Republicans can field someone
who could lure me back. Besides "m'buoy" Ron Paul, the only other GOP
contenders that have piqued my interest are Fred Thompson and Mike
Huckabee. Huckabee is polling in first place here in Iowa.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

This has been a very interesting race to watch. Within the last few
weeks two GOP candidates (Mike Huckabee and John McCain) have come
from relative obscurity and into contention for the nomination. They
had both spent months on end out of the media limelight (cross-hairs)
that usually accompanies the GOP front-runner(s). It's like they've
been drafting at the back of the pack of cyclists, without ever taking
their turn up front where the pedaling is more difficult. Having
evaded the negative headlines for months has proven beneficial for
both.

Labels: John_McCain, Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

On the eleventh day following this post Iowans will caucus and, for
the first time, cast actual votes for our Presidential nominee. As we
enter the stretch run the Iowa race looks close and fluid. Based on
our view from the ground handicaps the final lap as follows: 1st
Place. Mike Huckabee/Mitt Romney (tie). Huck has surged hard in the
polls. Every poll but one that has canvassed Iowa in the last twenty
days has shown Huck in the lead. However, all show that lead narrowing
as well. Now Huck and Mitt are in what the talking heads describe as a
"statistical dead heat".

Labels: Fred Thompson, Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

I received an e-mail today from a reader that included a link to Mr.
Huckabee's new Christmas advertisement. The link said to pay close
attention to the background as it appears the bookshelf makes a white
cross. It appears that Drudge was the origination of it. Sure enough,
it definitely is there. That kind of advertising work is brilliant.
It's like those old time movie producers that used to infuse a frame
of popcorn once in every 50 frames in order to get people thinking
about popcorn (and then hopefully going to the concession stand to buy
it). For not having a whole lot of money, I've been impressed with
Huckabee's ads.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

The Cooler has obtained the above photos of the Mexican consulate in Little Rock, Arkansas. For those that don't know, Governor Huckabee lobbied aggressively for the addition of a Mexican consulate in Little Rock, at the taxpayers expense of course. This consulate served as a resource for illegal immigrants living in Arkansas, and some Huckabee opponents claim it drew additional illegal immigrants to the state. The Mexican consulate helps Mexicans, legal or illegals, with papers, and hands out a consular identification - which critics argue gives illegals a valid ID which helps them meld into society. All of the costs associated with this come out of taxpayers' pockets.

Labels: immigration, Mike_Huckabee

Rasmussen Polling released a poll of Iowans this afternoon and the
results once again show that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is
continuing to snowball support among Iowa Republicans. The poll, which
has a sample of 789 likely GOP caucus participants, was taken SOLELY
on December 10 (yesterday). The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5
points. The last Rasmussen poll, published on November 28, showed a
much closer race.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, polling

Mike Huckabee is passing another benchmark of legitimacy: as of noon Wednesday he'll be traded on the Iowa Electronic Markets (IEM). The IEM is one place where politicians literally are bought and paid for. In the University of Iowa business school project, traders buy and sell contracts on political candidates (not the kind of contract John Gotti tried to put on Rudy Giuliani). Traders use their own, real money (not Ron Paul Liberty Dollars) and for more than 15 years, the IEM has been known for its accuracy in predicting general election outcomes. ... "We've been watching our Rest Of Field price in the Republican national convention market," said [IEM's] Berg, "and it's been above 15 cents for a couple weeks and above 20 cents for the last couple of days. When that happens, we look around to see who might be in that Rest Of Field contract that we should separate out, and this time it looked like it might be Huckabee."

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, University of Iowa

Mike Huckabee might convince me to go to the Republican caucuses. His big government "conservatism" is appalling. In many ways, I sympathize with the Republican Party, but people like Huckabee could put me solidly in the Democratic Party. ... The difficulty would be to decide who I would vote for if I went to the Republican caucuses. Giuliani probably has the views closest to mine, but his resume does not make him a fan of civil liberties. I am tempted to support Mitt Romney. He has the best chance of beating Huckabee in Iowa - which may be sufficient reason to vote for him.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

Mike Huckabee spent his first day in Iowa as the front runner, at
least according to most recent polls. We caught up with him at a hotel
in Des Moines, where he had just finished meeting with a group of
retired military leaders. I don't know what those military leaders
thought of the U.S. troop surge in Iraq. But I do know we've all
noticed Huckabee's surge. I've never seen so much local and national
press at one of his events. Huckabee noticed it, as well.
Unfortunately, he didn't seem to notice the podium staffers had set up
for him. He walked just outside the red rope that sectioned off the
media from the hallway where he was.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

I just got a robocall paid for by "Common Sense Issues," whatever that is. It was a brief survey with questions intended to generate interest in Mike Huckabee. The voice said the phone number at the end of the call too fast for me to catch it. The voice referred me to this website, "Trust Huckabee": http://www.trusthuckabee.com. These were the questions, as closely as I can remember them. I may have missed some--I didn't have a pen and paper handy--but I sat down at the computer within a minute of the call ending, so my memory is fresh.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

I read over at the excellent Cyclone Conservatives site that the
newest Rasmussen Poll shows Huckabee in the lead in Iowa. The poll of
likely Republican caucus-goers puts Huckabee in the lead with 28% and
Romney second with 25%. While the difference is within the poll's
margin of error, the result is significant since it is the first poll
to show Huckabee in the lead. Here are the rest of the results... The
most interesting part about this shift is that Huckabee has made gains
in the polls without having a significant organization on the ground
in Iowa.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, polling

... Why is a vote for Huckabee a vote for Rudy? On the surface the proposition appears preposterous. Huckabee and Rudy represent the absolute polar opposites of the GOP field; Huck being a solid social conservative but fiscal liberal/moderate and conversely Rudy being a social liberal/moderate and a solid fiscal conservative. I've had conversations with supporters of both Rudy and Huck; they are farily consistent in saying that the one candidate in the race that they wouldn't/couldn't vote for is the other. ... Huckabee's appeal is disproportionately weighted to firm evangelical Christians. The latest Iowa poll shows that Huckabee is blowing every other candidate away in this demographic. He's got nearly half of all evangelical Iowans polled in his camp already. He knows and speaks the language of this well-organized and motivated demographic. But is it enough? Maybe for Iowa, but not for the subsequent states.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Rudy_Giuliani

New Iowa poll from ABC/WaPo: Numbers in parentheses are from the same firms' last Iowa poll from nearly 4 months ago: Mitt Romney 28% (26%) +2; Mike Huckabee 24% (8%) +16; Fred Thompson 15% (13%) +2; Rudy Giuliani 13% (14%) -1; John McCain 6% (8%) -2; Ron Paul 6% (2%) +4. Big move up for Huckabee, small move up for Paul. Everyone else fairly flat since 4 months ago. Huckabee must be picking up many of the undecideds and Brownbackers (who had 5% last time). There is no denying Huckabee's surge... but until someone shows me that Romney's numbers are falling due to Huckabee's rise then I'm not going to be too concerned.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

An Iowa debate among the Republican presidential candidates was
canceled Thursday, the second major debate in Iowa to be scrapped
because of a lack of participation. Of the GOP field, only Mike
Huckabee confirmed he would attend the Dec. 4 forum sponsored by Fox
News and the Republican Party of Iowa at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines.
Mary Tiffany, spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Iowa, said she
was disappointed only one candidate agreed to participate. "I was
really surprised about this," Tiffany said. Mitt Romney, the GOP
frontrunner in Iowa polls, said Wednesday he wouldn't attend.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

Word comes this afternoon that the Dec. 4 Republican Party of Iowa
debate, slated for Des Moines and for broadcast by Fox News, has been
cancelled. Only one candidate, Mike Huckabee, had confirmed for the
event. There were state Republican Party debates earlier this year
aired by Fox in New Hampshire, Florida and South Carolina, but there
won't be one originating from Iowa. We in Sioux City, of course, know
the sting of bypass by GOP candidates. A debate announced way back in
summer got little support by the candidates, and by the time it came
off on Oct. 25, the Orpheum Theatre event was downgraded to a forum.
Huckabee and John McCain were the two participants.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, RPI

The American Research Group let loose their new numbers today and the
poll once again reinforces what we've been seeing in other polls: Iowa
is giving the former Arkansas Governor a lot of "Huckmentum" and yet
also showing that many Iowa Republicans are staying "CoMITTed" to
Governor Romney. Right now, it looks like a strong race between
Huckabee and Romney for first in Iowa and it looks like a race between
Thompson, McCain, and Giuliani for 3rd place. This begs the question,
is Huckabee's rise going to continue or is he going to be peaking too
early? Also, have Romney's numbers hit a plateau or is there a chance
that he can push them back upward?

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney, polling

This blog has predicted that the top three GOP finishers in the Iowa
caucuses will be Romney, Huckabee, and Giuliani and a new CBS poll
confirms this. Huckabee continues to be the consensus choice for
conservatives not rallying to Romney with Thompson now fading fast.
However, the poll does point out that immigration is the top issue
among GOP caucus attendees. We've already talked about Huckabee's
support for the "dream act"... Romney will probably start talking about
it as well.

Labels: John_Edwards, Mike_Huckabee

Earlier this week, prior to release of the most recent American
Research Group ("ARG") poll TRS did a brief coverage of the anecdotal
evidence of the Republican Presidential candidates' respective
standing in Iowa. This opinion was formed after some pretty candid
conversations with Iowa Republican leaders from the precinct to the
state wide level. It was the TRS perspective that Huck and FDT were
surging and Mitt was holding firm at the 25-30 percent range, which
probably means first place in the Caucuses. The Rasmussen Report is
among the most reliable of polling providers. A Rasmussen poll from
earlier in the month (10/10-10/14) showed Mitt outside the margin of
error at 25, FDT at 19, Huck in a statistical near tie at 18, with
Rudy at 13 percent of likely caucus goers.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee spoke with a group of reporters
in Des Moines Saturday night before the Iowa GOP's fall banquet got
underway. Someone asked him about fundraising, Huckabee reported that
his fundraising last week had equaled the amount he raised in the
first three months of the year. I asked a follow up: "People are sort
of puzzled that a minister who gives, you know, an annual stewardship
drive sermon to his flock hadn't heretofore raised the money?"
Huckabee responded: "It's really a matter of we had a much later
start. Unlike other candidates who could prime the pump with their
own money or could transfer some from the federal accounts, we had to
start from zero...."

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

While he's not willing to name names, former Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee says his presidential campaign is picking up momentum in Iowa
and that he anticipates significant endorsement announcements will be
made late this week. "We've had a big weekend -- in fact, quite a big
week -- beginning with the new poll numbers that came out in Iowa last
week, showing that we had virtually tied in second place," Huckabee
said during a conference call Monday evening, Oct. 22. "I think that
was somewhat surprising to many people, but, frankly, not so
surprising to us. We have sensed a growing momentum and that was even
before Sen. [Sam] Brownback dropped out of the race."

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

Mike Huckabee isn't raising much money, only raising $1 million in the
3rd quarter. However, Huckabee has the highest paid campaign manger on
the Republican side. Marc Ambinder takes a look at who the best paid
campaign manager on the Republican side is... 'Not Beth Myers, Mitt
Romney's campaign manager, who takes home about $7,000 a month after
taxes, or Michael DuHaime of the Giuliani campaign, who makes $14,386
per month after taxes... it's Chip Saltzman, Mike Huckabee's campaign
manager, who makes about $15,000 per month. Saltzman's estimated
$250,000 per year is about seven percent of what Huckabee has raised
to date -- $2,345,798.'

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

The campaign for Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is
complaining about a bogus e-mail apparently sent out to Iowa activists
claiming that one of his most prominent supporters is now backing
rival Mitt Romney. The e-mail, which purports to be from Sioux City
Republican Bob Vander Plaats, urges others to join him at a news
conference at the State Capitol Wednesday. The phony e-mail says
Vander Plaats no longer is supporting Huckabee after the candidate
failed to meet fund-raising goals. "It's obviously a dirty trick
designed to create doubt among our supporters," said Eric Woolson, a
spokesman for Huckabee's campaign. Vander Plaats said people have
asked him about the e-mail, which appears to come from an e-mail
account with his name, but it did not come from him.

Labels: Bob Vander Plaats, Mike_Huckabee

Yesterday, the Des Moines Register and the Ann Selzer Co. unleashed
its new "Iowa Poll" of Republicans and Democrats. Some have been
skeptical of the "Iowa Poll" in the past, but as it pertained to the
2006 Gubernatorial race in Iowa, it was unfortunately very accurate.
So, it is fair to assume that there might be one more Iowa Poll before
the 2007 caucus date so with that being said, it is fair to assume
that we're still going to see a fluid race. I think the numbers
suggest that we're in for an excited fall here in Iowa because there
is still plenty of fluidity and movement yet to be seen, in my
opinion. Republicans: Obviously, from the pure numbers of all this, we
can see that Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and Mike Huckabee are the big
winners.

Labels: Fred Thompson, Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee picked up his first three Iowa
legislative endorsements yesterday. But Mitt Romney, who leads in
most polls of Iowa Republicans, also has a commanding lead in
legislative endorsements. Sixteen of the state's 63 Republican
legislators, including House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, are
backing Romney. That's double the number of his nearest rival, Sen.
John McCain of Arizona. And as McCain's support has slipped, he's
also suffered some defections from former supporters. A year ago this
month, McCain's Straight Talk America PAC announced a 13 member "Iowa
Legislative Advisory Team." The day after that announcement, one
member, Rep. Dave Heaton of Mt. Pleasant, announced that he had not
made an endorsement and did not plan to.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

An article in The New Republic this week chronicles how Mike Huckabee
sold out his belief in balanced budgets and fiscal conservatism to
gain the support of anti-tax fanatics like Grover Norquist. This meant
embracing the "fair tax" which is a highly regressive economic program
that puts a disproportionate burden on working Americans and puts more
money in the pockets of the wealthy by replacing our tax system with a
sales of at least 30%. This marriage of convenience has already
benefited Huckabee at the Ames Straw Poll. However, on most issues,
Mike Huckabee doesn't need to sell out to embracing fringe ideas. Most
of the time, he already is embracing strange and extremist views on
his own. Although Huckabee's opposition to evolution is well known,
his embrace of the intellectual and scientific fringes is far more
wide ranging.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

Iowa should not pick the next president. I don't think my opinion
should matter more than those in other states. However, I do think
Iowa and New Hampshire should go first because they are small states
that are won on the ground with retail politics. If Iowa and New
Hampshire weren't first, then Joe Biden and Chris Dodd would not be in
the race and maybe even Bill Richardson and campaigns would be won
with TV ads, large donor fundraisers, and even more mud throwing. You
don't need a ton of money to do well in Iowa, just look at Mike
Huckabee's performace at the Ames Straw Poll. Huckabee had less than
half a million dollars on hand at the end of the July. In some states,
one TV ad costs more money than Huckabee has. Huckabee is still able
to gain traction in the race because Iowa is first.

Labels: caucus dates, Mike_Huckabee

Senator Sam Brownback's Campaign has unleashed a pair of press
releases following last night's "Values Voter Presidential Debate"
suggesting that Mike Huckabee does not have a sufficient grasp on an
important issue pertaining to the pro-life movement and suggesting
that Mitt Romney's absence is indicative of the fact that he has a
less than steller record for which to stand upon. Here's Brownback's
beef with Huckabee: "While Senator Sam Brownback has lead the fight in
the Senate to protect a key pro-life federal policy, former Governor
Mike Huckabee revealed an alarming ignorance of the issue when asked
about it at today's Values Voters Presidential Debate…" As it pertains
to Romney, Brownback noted a laundry list of concerns that
conservatives and 'values voters' should have with the former
Massachusetts Governor.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney, Sam_Brownback

The fourth debate is in the books. Tonight presented a far better
format, with far more intramural clash, than in any of the predecessor
events. Huckabee stole the show tonight, with Rudy close on his heals
and McCain rebounding hard. I still don't know why we have moderators
at all. Shouldn't someone who wants to be President of the United
States be able to stand his ground on a stage with his competitors
without any direction or editing? As usual, we're going to rate each
debater on a scale of 1-30. The ratings are based in part on
presentation, part on content and part on the stage management of the
occasion. In alphabetical order: Sam Brownback: Sam seemed very off
his game tonight. Sam started the debate series with a great
performance in the first debate but has consistently been kind of a
wall flower in the last three debates.

Labels: John_McCain, Mike_Huckabee, Rudy_Giuliani

New poll numbers from the American Research Group reveal significant
improvement in former Gov. Mike Huckabee's standing in Iowa, bouncing
to 14% support after the Iowa Republican Straw Poll earlier this
month. ARG's polling indicated that Huckabee had the support of only
1% of Iowa Republican caucus-goers last month. While the ARG's likely
caucus-goer screen is notoriously loose, this is undoubtedly good news
for the Huckabee campaign. The poll puts Huckabee in third place in
Iowa, behind Romney at 27% and Giuliani at 17%. Huckabee beats Fred
Thompson (13%), Newt Gingrich (7%), and John McCain (5%). Notably for
Huckabee, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo
receive no discernible support in the ARG poll. Ron Paul, on the
other hand, receives 1% support in Iowa.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

Two stories about the Straw Poll's continuing impact are beginning to
float through the Ethernet tonight. The first is pretty obvious; Mike
Huckabee's second place finish has produced a lot of media this week.
The combination of good news and increased exposure has supposedly
significantly boosted the Razorback's fundraising. Since Huckabee got
more votes than the quantity of tickets he purchased you'd have to say
the event gave him a pretty big bang for the buck. The second is
somewhat murkier. Rumor has it that a second GOP participant at the
Ames Straw Poll is set to drop out in the next few days. We'll be
chasing this rumor down hard, if it's groundless we'll say so, if not
the fallout zone will broaden beyond Wisconsin.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, straw_poll

Over at Century of the Common Iowan, Noneed4thneed put up a video clip
of David Brooks talking about how Republicans privately can't stand
Bush, think he's incompetent, blame him for destroying the party and
so on. I don't doubt that this is true. They were happy to puff up
Bush and smear his detractors when his approval ratings were high, but
now that he's been below 40 percent for almost two years, he is a
little embarrassing. Even the White House has given up on salvaging
Bush's presidency (at least that's how I interpret Karl Rove's
departure to work on other GOP projects). So far Republican
presidential candidates have mainly criticized the Bush administration
on immigration policy.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

I've long agreed with Kos that Mike Huckabee is the guy in the Republican field I'd least like to see us face in the general. ... Particularly against Hillary, I think Huckabee spells trouble for us. That said, I am not sure whether Huckabee's surprisingly strong showing in the Iowa GOP straw poll is good or bad for Democrats. ... What interests me most about Huckabee's showing is that he did it despite attack ads that the Club for Growth has been running against him on Iowa television stations. ... Huckabee says it's unacceptable for CEOs to make 500 times the salary of their workers and get huge bonuses while they drive their companies into bankruptcy. He talks about coming from a working class family and how he remembers his dad struggling. I mean, does he sound like he's channeling John Edwards, or what? No wonder the Club for Growth hates this guy. ... when I think about Huckabee making the top tier, getting more mainstream media coverage while portraying the GOP as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wall Street and big business, I smile. Having a Republican reinforce this stereotype will reach many voters who would tune out a Democrat making similar allegations.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

It appears that Huckabee had the lowest cost per vote at the Straw Poll yesterday, at around $58/vote, according to this article. His nearest competitor, Sam Brownback, spent almost three times that amount to get his votes. And, Romney eclipsed all of them at over $440/vote, maybe more, as his team has not released the amount they spent at the event. ... The article claims that Romney probably had the greatest cost per vote. I would disagree and say that John Cox has that position. I don't know what Cox spent, but lets say it was around $50K, possibly more (I don't know what it cost a candidate for just the space). He got 41 votes. That's $1219 per vote. Ouch!

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

Given the advantage he had in organization and finance, Mitt Romney's first place finish at Ames was anything but impressive. That his organization (and bankroll) would render the straw poll non-competitive has been obvious for many months ... Huckabee- not Romney- is the big winner at Ames. From here on out, he has to be taken seriously, just like Romney and Giuliani and McCain and Thompson are taken seriously. Those four- plus Mike Huckabee- constitute the viable field for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. In fact, that Romney- with all his organization and all his money- was not able to dominate the poll more completely- that Huckabee's showing, rather than Romney's, should be the story- raises some serious questions. ... it'll be hard for the Romney crowd to argue that yesterday's result demonstrates anything resembling a decisive preference on the part of Iowa Republicans for their man.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has reason for some optimism going
into this weekend's symbolic Iowa straw poll. The latest Iowa
Republican poll shows him tied with Sen. John McCain for fourth place
in the Iowa polls -- behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney,
former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Tennessee Sen.
Fred Thompson. But he knows the history of the symbolic straw poll.
It's a make-or-break moment for all the candidates. Right? Here's what
he told us in Boone, Iowa, on Wednesday: "You know, for us it's all
part of the long haul. I mean, I think a lot of people are saying this
is sort of the seminal moment, period. It's not for us, although we
think it's a pivotal moment not a seminal moment if that makes any
sense." What?

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

Tonight, I attended Representative Dwayne Alons' fundraiser in
downtown Hull. Rep. Alons and his wife Clarice are two of the nicest
and most dedicated people you will ever meet. I was pleased to attend
this event. They had upwards of 100 people there and so it was a very
good event for him. I got to spend a good quantity of time talking to
two fellow bloggers: Mike Tate with Tancredo and Vincent Harris with
Huckabee. Both of these guys are in college (Tate goes to school in
Pennsylvania and Harris in Texas) and they are both playing HUGE roles
in the campaigns of these two fantastic campaigns. I'm definitely a
fan of their work. As I have mentioned many times, the 'new media' is
the wave of the future and these guys, both about 20 or 21, are way
ahead of 99.999 percent of everyone else with their knowledge of this
and how it applies to political campaigns.

Labels: Duncan_Hunter, John_Cox, Mike_Huckabee, Tom_Tancredo

I have been intrigued by Huckabee for sometime after hearing him on
CSPAN last fall. His remarks on education aren't your typical
Republican talking points and he was the only Republican to speak at
the NEA convention earlier this month. Unlike many other Republicans
Huckabee actually sees the human side of the immigration debate. Last
week, I attended an event with Mike Huckabee in Marshalltown. When I
arrived, there was one staffer who had set up the small room at the
Pizza Ranch and made sure the pizza's were ordered. (There seems to be
food at a lot of Republican events.) I introduced myself to his
staffer as a Liberal blogger in Iowa that liked some of the things I
have heard from Governor Huckabee and then noted the things I talked
about above. We talked some and I told him I was a teacher. When Gov.
Huckabee arrived he went around the room shaking hands. The staffer
introduced me to Gov. Huckabee, saying I was a teacher and we talked
about his warm welcome at the NEA convention and some of the things he
did for education as Governor of Arkansas.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

My Republican Pick: Governor Mike Huckabee. "What's a Unitarian and
Democrat like you doing at an evangelical Christian rally for a
Republican presidential candidate like Huckabee?" a friend asked
yesterday. I explained, "Some partisans want to do all they can to see
to it that the opposing party picks the absolutely worst candidate
possible -- so they'll be easier to beat. That's never been my
approach. One of these parties' candidates is going to end up being
president. Given the Democrats' finely honed skill at snatching defeat
from the jaws of victory, even though 2008 should be the Democrats'
year we could just end up with another Republican president. If that
happens I'd like it to be someone the country can live with." Don't
get me wrong. I'll be voting for the Democrat. There may be some
scenario in which I would end up voting for a Republican president in
November 2008 -- it's just never happened before and I'm incapable of
imagining what it might be. But that doesn't mean I don't care who
their nominee turns out to be.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

Iowa Christian Alliance/Iowans for Tax Relief Presidential Forum: Yesterday afternoon I had the privilege to attend the Iowa Christian Alliance/Iowans for Tax Relief Presidential Forum in Hy-Vee Hall. There were six very fine Presidential candidates there and so I will talk a little about the event and then delve into the candidates' performances and remarks a little. This event was extraordinarily well organized and very smooth. There were literally hundreds, it seemed, of volunteers in yellow shirts everywhere. They all seemed to know exactly what needed to be done. While this was a big event, the Straw Poll, to be held next month, will be bigger and so that just is another reminder of the tremendous numbers of volunteers that will be needed there. Contact the state party if you can help. In order to attend the event, a person needed to have RSVP'd or be sent an invitation. Also, to be able to enter the room where the forum was held, you had to go through metal detectors and have a yellow bracelet. I think it was very nice idea to have metal detectors for the sake of the candidates' safety.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Ron Paul, Tom_Tancredo

The internets are ablaze with righteous indignation that libertarian slash GOP longshot Ron Paul has been excluded from Saturday's Iowans for Tax Relief/Iowa Christian Alliance debate. The conspiracy minded even note that Iowans for Tax Relief's Ed Failor Jr. is a major McCain backer. But McCain's not even showing up. And the Daily Iowan, while also objecting to Paul's exclusion, makes the point no one else has bothered to mention: "Romney, the debate's "front-runner," has the support of a whopping 12 percent of GOP voters, according to a June 20 poll conducted by Newsweek. Huckabee, Thompson, Brownback, Tancredo, and Hunter and are polling at an abysmal 4, 2, 2, 1, and 0 percent respectively." ... by joining a forum of second and third tier candidates, Romney runs the risk of reducing himself to their level. Meanwhile, Paul is playing the classic card of the uninvited, holding a counter-debate event immediately following. Such events usually rally a candidate's own die-hards, but are rarely if ever persuasive. Paul's protestation of exclusion from this bush-league event reeks of the paranoid.

Labels: Duncan_Hunter, John_McCain, Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney, Ron Paul, Sam_Brownback, Tom_Tancredo, Tommy_Thompson

Two of the Republican presidential candidates talked about the Iowa Republican Party's Straw Poll today.(Here's the Radio Iowa story on Huckabee and here's the Radio Iowa story on Tommy Thompson.) Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson said some of his staff had seriously considered the idea of having him withdraw, but Thompson told reporters (during a telephone conference call) that he was steadfast in his commitment to participate. "I'm curious if you had considered skipping the Straw Poll after Giuliani and McCain got out of it," an AP reporter asked Thompson. "I reflected on it.I would say that my staff considered it more than I did. I never, I never thought about skipping the Straw Poll. I just thought that it was something that I had committed myself to early on. It was really the way we were focusing our campaign to see how well we were doing. It's a barometer of that. It's a test and I never personally, really, thought that we would skip it, but I've got to tell you that the three individuals on the call with me who are probably, I think, the three best knowlegable individuals about straw polls and Iowa politics thought that maybe we should skip it, but then they reflected on it and that's why we hadn't made an announcement because they wanted to consider all the alternatives and they came up with the same conclusion that I did, that this is the right thing."

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, straw_poll, Tommy_Thompson

There's a mystery man out there, and we think former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee might want to send him a thank you note. Why? Because by picketing outside the grand opening of Huckabee's Des Moines headquarters on Wednesday, he signaled that this once obscure southern governor has finally arrived in that high-value target zone where "Rudy McRomney" resides. First of all, Huckabee should be happy that the Iowa penal system sent someone to welcome him to downtown Des Moines. After all, it's a nice distraction from Radio Iowa's exclusive report on Huckabee's recent jokes about miniskirts and thong underwear. More importantly, it accomplishes what Huckabee had tried to do in one of the nationally-televised debates, when he practically begged Republican rival Jim Gilmore to attach his name to that "Rudy McRomney" slur along with front-runners like former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney. Said Huckabee: "I wish my name would get in the monicker. I could use the bump." Romney already has been targeted by a fuzzy-tailed "varmint" -- a tribute to Romney's hunting skills -- and a porpoise calling himself "flipper."

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

Granted, Marie Claire has had issues with progressives. I was still a little knocked off balance, however, by their interview with presidential hopeful and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. After the whole evolution hand-raising incident I should not have been shocked when Huckabee told the magazine that women in short skirts are just asking for it. Q: I read that you're against miniskirts. A: If a person dresses provocatively, they're calling attention - maybe not the most desirable kind - to private parts of their body. Ignoring for a moment that some Christians in our nation believe a woman in "men's clothing" (i.e., pants) is an abomination in the eyes of God, which leaves us ladies who wish to not incite acts of sexual violence and remain pious with only a choice of long skirts... probably without a slit on the side or back for easy walking. The fact of the matter is that anyone who dresses outside the norm for a given situation is calling attention to him or herself.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

... getting down to the nitty gritty ... who won? I don't think there was a real winner, here -- at least not in the traditional sense. If anything, I'd say that Romney won because he didn't do anything to shoot himself in the foot and damage his standings in the polls. Which, when you're the frontrunner, is goal #1. He did that last night. Who was the loser? Again, it was so evenly matched that I'm hard-pressed to say who lost this round. I even have to (grudgingly) concede that Ron Paul did ok. He kept his conspiracy theories and whackiness mostly to himself last night and avoided a repeat of the last debate (here), and that's only going to help him. McCain spoke very well about Iraq, but he's totally screwed when it comes to this immigration bill. Rudy had some very good points about health care, but his abortion stand is only going to hurt him among hard-core conservatives. You get the picture. So for me, it was a Romney win…but only because he didn't do anything to hurt his chances. The rest, I'd have to say, all finished tied for second.

Labels: John_McCain, Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney, Ron Paul

... And although it is still early in the presidential race, my interest has now turned to the former governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee. I've heard his soundbites from the various debates, especially in regards to John Edwards' haircut. But more importantly, I've researched him through his webpage and other sites. Here's what I like about Huckabee: 1) He was a Baptist minister before getting into politics. He is a Christian, not backing down on his faith, but also not flaunting it, like Pat Robertson did years ago. 2) He is pro-life through and through. 3) He understands what the 2nd Amendment really is; not to protect hunters, but to provide self-defense and protection from tyranny. 4) He wants to secure our borders and is against the current immigration bill (but then again, who isn't?) 5) He will work for energy independence. One thing that I am unsure on, however, is his favor of the Fair Tax. Maybe I don't understand the workings of this plan quite yet, but the way I see it, it moves the burden of collecting taxes from the IRS to the retailers.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

Several people had questions. Perhaps the two most important were inter-related. When asked to discuss the larger War on Terror, Gov. Huckabee began by stating perhaps the crucial, if far too infrequently expressed, fundamental nature of the WoT-it is very much theological in nature. The enemy, amorphous though they are, unify around a more 9th or 10th Century version of Islam with a 9th or 10th Century ethic. In recognizing our enemy has a religious belief that they should kill us to re-establish the Caliphate then we cannot negotiate with them like a rational actor. The Governor certainly appeared to have hardened his line with respect to the WoT and he certainly described a need for a larger and more powerful military. Music to my ears, of course. Gov. Huckabee also talked about a national energy policy with a goal of complete independence from Middle Eastern oil within 10 years. His analogy to the moon challenge seems utterly apropos.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee

... Fox asked much harder questions and allowed the candidates to go at it. We, the Republican voters, are adults and we should demand far more of this and far less of the commercials, the stump speeches etc…. Nothing instructs like dialogue. It also makes the Democrats look like the intellectual cowards that they have become. ... we're going to rate each debater on a scale of 1-30.
Sam Brownback ... 1st debate/25 2nd debate/21;
Jim Gilmore ... 1st debate/24 2nd debate/21;
Rudy Giuliani ... 1st debate/21 2nd debate/27;
Mike Huckabee ... 1st debate/25 2nd debate/27;
Duncan Hunter ... 1st debate/23 2nd debate/24;
John McCain ... 1st debate/23 2nd debate/24;
Ron Paul ... 1st debate/21 2nd debate/20;
Mitt Romney ... 1st debate/25 2nd debate/24;
Tom Tancredo ... 1st debate/21 2nd debate/22;
Tommy Thompson ... 1st debate/21 2nd debate/21.

Labels: Duncan_Hunter, Jim_Gilmore, John_McCain, Mike_Huckabee,