We all know Mike Huckabee is a true conservative, and has a good chance of gaining broad support from the Republican base. But this is one reason why I believe Mike Huckabee can win the general election.
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Category: Politics
can’t stand it, can’t live without it — politics
Why Mike Huckabee Can Win the General Election
Update: For a post which lays out the reasons why Huckabee is a genuine conservative and can appeal to all 3 conservative factions, check out this post from Evangelical Outpost (Joe Carter, with Matt Anderson and Justin Taylor).
Momentum is Mike Huckabee‘s friend right about now. He’s been riding it for quite some time.
Huckabee scored big in yesterday’s Iowa Straw Poll by finishing solidly in 2nd place, with 18% of the vote. Romney spent literally millions more than Huckabee, and won first place with only 31% of the vote, even though the two other big name, top tier candidates didn’t participate.
With characteristic charm, Huckabee remarked, “For us to finish second, for all intents and purposes, we won the Iowa straw poll. This is David and Goliath and one smooth stone.” (source, David Chalian of ABCNews.com). Huckabee may not be over exaggerating either.
Chris Cillizza on his Washington Post political blog “The Fix”, suggested that Huckabee may well be the biggest winner from the straw poll. And “The Blue State”, a progressive blog without bias, predicts “Mike Huckabee is about to receive a huge bounce in the polls after finishing second…“. Blue State went on to discuss how Huckabee can position himself as “the leading conservative alternative to the frontrunners“. After highlighting evidence which may suggest hundreds of voters actually changed their minds to vote for Huckabee, Noam Scheiber of The New Republic‘s political blog “The Plank”, went on to describe how, “The political press is absolutely head over heels for Huckabee.”
So with all the buzz surrounding Mike Huckabee and his bid for the Republican nomination, now might be a good time to raise the question: “Can Huckabee win the general election?” I suggest he can, for the following reasons.
- With a Republican party lagging in morale and political viability, the best chance Republicans have for winning must be a united front. They would need a candidate who appeals both to their base and to middle-of-the-roaders. Huckabee is that man. Conservatives have nothing to fear, and moderates will warm to Huckabee’s optimistic emphasis on vertical politics.
- Who can say what it takes to win on the big stage, but a healthy dose of charisma, charm, and a quick witted humor never hurt anyone. Huckabee has that and more. He has consistently over achieved in the debates, and displays a presidential tone.
- Huckabee is not connected to Washington. And he’s a governor — a governor’s governor, really. With 10 1/2 years of executive experience to leverage, Huckabee will convince the public that America needs a proven leader.
- Since Huckabee isn’t a Washington insider, he isn’t in Bush’s back pocket. He’s been loathe to openly criticize the sitting president, but one can tell he has some significant differences and disappointments with Bush. Republicans and Democrats alike will need to be assured that Huckabee doesn’t represent more of the same.
- Huckabee is also one of the few Republican candidates with a full-orbed political plan for change. He emphasizes vertical politics and the importance of actually governing and getting things done (see this video clip of Huckabee on this very point).
- What’s more he is extremely believable and likable. The media love him. He has a great story of losing 100 pounds, and he would also have an underdog turned contender storyline going into the general election.
- And Huckabee is not a cookie-cutter Republican. Sure he is solidly pro life, but he emphasizes the need to support life from the womb to the grave and everyplace in between. He also is calling for Republicans to take the lead in the stewardship of our environment, and the fighting of corporate greed. He even advocates an emphasis on art & music education in public schools. As for his faith, he stresses that it will influence him to “do what’s right” in office.
- Early media reports have tried to paint Huckabee as a member of the radical right, with him being an ordained Southern Baptist preacher and all. They’ve made much of his personal belief in God’s creation, over and against evolution. Yet Huckabee’s record will prove them wrong. He won election twice in a solidly democratic Arkansas, and worked with Democrats to get things done.
- He has a clear across-the-aisle appeal. Huckabee, his bass guitar, and his quick wit proved enough to win applause and more in a must-see interview with Jon Stewart of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”.
- To sum it all up, Huckabee is the only conservative who can genuinely appeal to his party’s base as well as reach out to independents and moderates. It’s like Huckabee says, although he’s a conservative, he’s not mad at everybody!
Another Republican Presidential Debate
I just finished watching the 3rd Republican presidential debate, and thought I would share some of my thoughts.
10 is too big of a number. It makes the debate difficult to follow. That many candidates deserve equal speaking time. But they don’t get it.
2 Tiers — there definitely are two tiers of candidates. If you are one of the top 3 (Guliani, McCain, and Romney), you get twice as long to speak, and get asked twice as many questions. Part of the disparity can be traced to these candidates’ ability to raise large amounts of money quickly, and part of it can be traced to early polls and media tampering. The media has made it into a 3-way race, with Thompson and Gingrich as possible would-be contenders. Sure, I’m biased, and the media often merely reports, yet I can’t help thinking that if the media didn’t hype certain candidates, things might be different.
Mike Huckabee (the guy I’m rooting for), might be wrong. He is banking on the fact that the nomination should be and will be won on the basis of ideas and positions, not on the basis of how much money you can earn, and which big-time donor you know.
I hope people watch the debates and research the issues, because this year there are many choices. But we are all lazy, and will wait for Iowa and New Hampshire to decide the race for us, I think.
I wish that some of the similar candidates that are alike in values and positions would bow out in deference to one of their number. This would allow there to be a conservative and also viable option available besides Romney to rally around. I just am not comfortable with Romney on a variety of fronts, and hope that Huckabee can gain steam. In a recent CNN poll, he was the highest among the other 7 candidates in the debates (even though that was only 3%). Perhaps that is a good sign.
The debate went poorly for Huckabee. I’m not saying he didn’t perform well. He shined, which has become par for the course with him. But he didn’t get chances to speak on very many key issues. As he himself remarked, he got all the questions on moral issues (since he was a pastor before he was a governor).
I also think his character is limiting him. The front runners have no qualms about stealing the limelight, and going beyond the time-limits allotted for them. Not so, Huckabee. He is polite and gracious to a fault in this regard.
Well, that about raps up my thoughts for now. But I have to leave you with a clip of his answer concerning evolution. It is a very passionate defense of the basic belief in creation. He allows room for differences with respect to six literal days or not, but again I think it will be great that this video clip is likely to get a lot of attention across America.
Huckabee on a Roll
Even if you didn’t watch the 2nd Republican Presidential Debate on May 15th, you might have heard about former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee’s line of the night: “We’ve had a congress that spent money like John Edwards in a beauty shop.”
Sure the line was funny, and it got the biggest laugh of the night. But more importantly, it has helped Huckabee generate some steam in his push to become a viable candidate worthy of winning the Republican nomination.
Huckabee has shined in both of the recent Republican debates. His performance in the second debate has attracted considerable media attention and praise. Some claim he is on the verge of breaking into the top tier of Republican candidates. Time’s Joe Klein, in a recent blog (HT: Mike Huckabee President 2008) claims that Mike Huckabee is out-performing Sam Brownback in “the battle of the religious conservatives”. Excepting the far-out Ron Paul and the current top 3 candidates (Guliani, McCain, and Romney), Klein contends that Huckabee (of the remaining 6 debate participants) is the most likely to survive.
Just this week, former South Carolina Governor David Beasley joined the wife of his predecessor, the late Carroll Campbell Jr., in endorsing Mike Huckabee for president.
There’s only one problem for Huckabee. Money. He started his exploratory committee relatively late (January) and has been playing catch-up ever since. Perhaps some of the big time donors wonder if he could win the general election. Despite his staunch conservatism, I sincerely feel he can. He appeals to young voters (just watch these University of SC students rave about Huckabee during Foxnews.com’s live webcast of the debate). And even has a significant appeal across party lines (see his interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, showcased here).
Well, by now you’ve guessed it. I’m making a plug for you all to join me in financially contributing to Huckabee’s campaign. You don’t need to contribute a lot, just contribute! Explorehuckabee.com is pushing for 400 contributions over the next 4 days (96 hours). Help Huckabee reach that goal and do a small part in ensuring a sound conservative is the next Republican nominee.
One more thing, I should stress that I am not usually so political in this blog. I don’t foster a hope that politics can “save America”, necessarily. As a Christian, I am more concerned with Christ’s kingdom than our republic, and I don’t think the two are synonymous. But Huckabee seems to me to be an unusual politician. He does not spiritualize America or the presidency, but he aims to do what is right (as a Christian should) were he to be elected. I can get behind that idea. I hope you can too.
Mike Huckabee on the Issues
My recent post in support of Mike Huckabee for President, has generated quite a bit of interest. I think that’s great. So I wanted to follow up by spreading the word about a great new resource I’ve discovered.
Brian McCrorie just pointed out a great new way to learn more about where Huckabee stands on the issues. Explorehuckabee.com has created a YouTube page with several short video clips (1-2 min.) of Mike Huckabee discussing issues such as immigration, health care, education, sanctity of life, marriage ammendment, national security, taxes/economy, etc.
Take a few minutes and check them out. Go over to explorehuckabee.com for more info, and then jump on the bandwagon and spread the word about Mike Huckabee! I fear his message will be lost in the shuffle of so many competing candidates. So join a grassroots effort, and blog for Huckabee! (Reminder: explorehuckabee.com makes it very simple to spread the word through blogging or email invites.)
The following video clip is an introductory clip, which may convince you to go watch the rest of the videos.