Huckabee Heading into the Iowa Caucus

In keeping with his entire campaign, Huckabee’s strategy in the last few days before the Iowa caucus has been highly unusual; he done little of the traditional reiteration of policies, praise for the party and last-minute attacks on the competition—well he’s done a bit of that. Apparently, Huckabee responded to TV attacks by his major opponent, Mitt Romney, by claiming, “I think we need to get the record straightened up. And get the truth out. … [his] attacks have been desperate, and I think they’ve been dishonest.” He concluded the topic with, “I don’t plan to fight with him. He’s throwing punches and I’m saying Merry Christmas.” On Thursday night in Des Moines, Iowa, the presidential candidate gave a speech full of personal anecdotes that reinforced his focus on moral values. He also asserted that, “I love this country and I love it more than I love the Republican Party…[which] needs to be changed. There are some people who aren't that fond of me for saying it.... They want the right and the left to keep fighting, Democrats and Republicans, the liberals and the conservatives.” In this statement, he appealed to voters frustrated with the constant gridlock in Washington by promising change and highlighting his authenticity by distancing himself from the corruption in Washington. On Friday, Huckabee continued to give speeches in hopes of gaining a few more last-minute votes--including a gathering at the Pizza Ranch in Pella, Iowa. In addition, the former Governor of Arkansas also recently visited Florida to court the Hispanic voters, a group he deemed “crucial in winning” the state. His trip included a talk at the Miami Airport as well as a private fundraiser.
According to a recent poll in Iowa, up to 40% of Republican voters in Iowa have yet to make up their minds as to who they will support in the caucus. However, for those who have decided Huckabee continues to lead the race and has also gained in national popularity—he current ranks in second place, behind Romney, in the New Hampshire polls. Last week, a controversy arose between Huckabee and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over criticism of the Bush Administration’s foreign policy from an article in the journal Foreign Affairs. The statement, “American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out … The Bush administration’s arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad” prompted questions. Huckabee stumbled a little when he claimed that he and his aids had crafted multiple versions of the article and he could not recall whether he had personally penned it; nevertheless, he accepted responsibility for approving the wording. Romney used the opportunity to pressure Huckabee and even proclaimed, “Huckabee’s comments sounded like they were coming from a Democrat.”

Is Huckabee a flip-flopper who wants to quarantine individuals with AIDS?

This past week Huckabee has continued his great success in persuading voters to vote for him. According to a CBS/NY Times poll and a CNN poll, Huckabee is tied for first place nationally with Giuliani among the Republican presidential candidates. This is an extraordinary accomplish for the “Dark Horse” candidate. In addition, in South Carolina, according to four polls, Huckabee is in first place among the Republican candidates. In Georgia, Huckabee has now reached first place (with 23 % of voters) among his fellow Republican contenders, pushing Thompson to second place (with 20% of voters). In Florida, Huckabee has climbed to first place. Watch out Thompson, Giuliani, and Romney!

As Huckabee rises in the polls, he receives increasing criticism. In addition, people are constantly pointing out his flaws. Individuals greatly criticized Huckabee, as they learned that Huckabee in 1992 desired to isolate individuals with AIDS. In addition, Huckabee asserted that "[homosexuality is an] aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle" posing a "dangerous public risk."€ In response to Huckabee quarantine comment, Huckabee claimed, "the AIDS crisis was just that -- a crisis. ... If I were making those same comments today, I might make them a little differently." However, Huckabee did not release a statement regarding his comments about homosexuality. On the other hand, this week Huckabee has evidenced that he is a "€œflip-flopper." In 2002, Huckabee wrote to Bush declaring that he remove Cuba'€™s embargo. Monday, Huckabee asserted the exact opposite! He told Cuban American leaders that he would take great action to keep the United State'€™s embargo on Cuba. If Huckabee continues to flip-flop on other issues to potentially satisfy different constituents, how will the American people know what Huckabee really believes? Furthermore, Romney criticizes Huckabee'€™s stand on immigration in a new ad; Romney asserts that Huckabee allowed illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition and scholarships financed by taxpaying citizens in Arkansas.

Moreover, Huckabee’s campaign has received more support. For example, Huckabee has hired the Republican strategist Ed Rollins as his National Campaign Chairman. Rollins was Reagan'€™s National Campaign Director for the 1984 election, in which he would 49 states! Watch out Republicans and Democrats, Rollins€™ could be an extraordinary asset to Huckabee'€™s campaign if Huckabee uses him well! Interest groups have jumped on the "I Like Mike's "€ team as well. This week, the Michigan Chooses Life PAC publicly endorsed Huckabee for the Republican presidential nomination. (I have a feeling, contrary to my own desires, that Huckabee will continue his success). On the other hand, Jim Gilchrist, who founded the Minuteman Project against illegal immigration, has declared his support for Huckabee. However, the organization, opposed to Gilchrist’s endorsement of Huckabee, sent a message to its members titled: "€œReal Minutemen Do Not Endorse Huckabee." The message claimed, "No National Minuteman Group has endorsed Mike Huckabee."

 

 

Huckabee leads in Iowa and South Carolina

When an interviewer raised an inquiry about an old statement by Huckabee that people with AIDS should be quarantined, the Presidential candidate tried to frame it in the context claiming that in the beginning of the 1990's there was little knowledge of how contagious AIDs was. Although Huckabee did not deny his statement, he did receive criticism because apparently many pastors at the time ignored information provided by the national government asserting that AIDS could not be "transferred casually." Huckabee spent the beginning of the week in Iowa, his first trip since taking the lead in the polls. After spending time there, MSNBC and McClatchy found that Huckabee had a 12% lead over Romney in their most recent poll. This week in Iowa, several well-known pastors announced their endorsement of Former Governor Mike Huckabee demonstrating his strengthening grasp of the religious right—a substantial voting block whose leaders are known for getting their supporters out to the polls. Continuing his everyman, authentic campaign Huckabee played up his years as a pastor; something the Christians in Iowa find very appealing especially with the competition being pro-choice or Mormon. Huckabee tries to stay out of the political attacks, but he is known for making subtle attacks; when discussing his primary competition in Iowa, Mitt Romney, he reportedly said, “We've got an army of ordinary people who are out there, not because someone's paying them to love me.” In addition to his Iowa successes, he isaccumulating support in North Carolina as well. Huckabee spent the end of the work-week there attending fundraisers in Greensboro and Charlotte; culminating in an speech at the Ashville Congressman’s annual Christmas. On his trip, reporters hounded the former Governor about his lack of awareness and opinion on the National Inteligence Estimate or (NIE) to which he responded that the current President “had it for four years, and he hadn't read it yet, so I don't really know that it was a big deal that I had not yet seen it and read it because we had been on the campaign trail nonstop.” A recent poll in the other Carolina came out with Huckabee winning the support of 20% of those surveyed moving ahead of Giuliani by 3%. This weekend he also visited South Carolina where he was campaigning at a local restaurant in Columbia packed with people—four times the restaurant’s actual capacity—to all eager meet the Republican Front Runner. With less than a month left until the Iowa primary, will Huckabee keep gaining support?If he wins the first primary will anyone be able to stop him?

Look out guys (and Hillary), Huckabee has had another great week

This week Huckabee continues to gain support from the American people. In addition, Huckabee exceeded his monetary goal for November, raising an astonishing $2,076, 467.73. On Monday, Huckabee released a new television ad called “Believe,” in which he emphasized, “faith doesn’t just influence me, it really defines me.” This ad is one of Huckabee’s methods to gain votes from Republican Christian in Iowa, as well as other Republican Christians. Whether this ad completely influenced Huckabee’s support in Iowa, or the other Republican candidates suffered criticisms this past week (or because evangelical Christians are opposed to Romeny’s Mormonism), the ad definitely helped Huckabee move to 1st place in Iowa. According to a Rasmussen poll (on Wednesday), Mike Huckabee received in Iowa 28% of the votes, followed by Romney with 25%. In addition, on that same Monday, a Zogby poll claimed that Clinton would loose to all the major GOP candidates in the Presidential election; Huckabee received the highest margin of votes of the GOP candidates (45.8% to 39.6% for Clinton). In Florida, Mike Huckabee came in last place according to an October insider advantage poll (because he did not register, or received such a small percentage of votes). This week, however, Huckabee has risen to second place among fellow Republicans with 17% of the vote.

In addition, nationally (according to a Rasmussen poll), Huckabee reached third place among Republican voters this week. In South Carolina, Huckabee is implementing a different strategy (contrary to his faith-based efforts in Iowa). Huckabee aims to receive a broader amount of support from Conservative voters (not only traditional Christian and social conservatives) by focusing on more consumer-friendly issues, including federal arts funding, climate change, and health care. This strategy may have helped Huckabee “make it on the radar” in South Carolina. In New Hampshire, according to a recent poll, Huckabee’s support has increased 6%, moving him to third place among Republican candidates. In addition, this week Huckabee was claimed the winner of the CNN/You Tube Republican Debate by various political analysts. In fact, Huckabee is claimed to have increased his support (among Republican voters) after his performance in the debate. The audience really supported his responses to illegal immigration, as well as taxes. When asked if Jesus would support the death penalty, Huckabee claimed, “Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office;” this statement led to great applause from the crowd, as well as fellow Republican candidate Giuliani. Moreover, this week, Huckabee formed the Faith and Values Coalition for Mike Huckabee to “join [him] in [his] efforts to reach out to Christian and social conservatives across the country”. This coalition is made up for 30 supporters of Mike Huckabee for President, who will help advise him on policy issues that will affect the faith community, as well as families.

In addition, Huckabee criticized the Bush administration for their “muted” response to Saudi Arabia’s decision ordering 200 lashes to a woman who was gang raped. Huckabee asserts, “The United States has been far too involved in sort of looking the other way, not only at the atrocities of human rights and violation of women.” Furthermore, Huckabee wants to make the United States energy independent in 10 years; thus, we can abandon our reliance on them. Huckabee claimed, "Every time we put our credit card in the gas pump, we're paying so that the Saudis get rich - filthy, obscenely rich, and that money then ends up going to funding madrassas," schools "that train the terrorists.”