Posted on 12/06/2010 2:12:48 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who had a good run during the 2008 Republican presidential primaries before Sen. John McCain went on to win the nomination, is thought by some in the White House to be the likely GOP nominee.
But he hasn't been getting the kind of excited frequent media attention of Sarah Palin and this has apparently begun to bother him.
According to Politico.com which interviewed Huckabee, he expressed some consternation:
“The polls are consistently favorable, putting me either at the top of every poll or right near it. It’s hard to ignore that, having swum in that water before when I barely registered in those very kinds of polls,” he said...
... “She’s brought an enormous amount of energy to the party. As to why she seemingly draws ten times the attention, I don’t know,” he said, touting recent book signings of his that had drawn up to 1,400 people, with no note in the media.
“You’re never going to read that. I’m never going to be breaking news because I made a comment on Twitter and Facebook. Why is that? I don’t know,” he said.
Even so, Huckabee could be Obama's worst nightmare which might explain why some in the White House are thinking he will be the nominee.
As the New York Times' Peter Baker reported in a New York Times magazine piece right after the election:
They doubt Sarah Palin will run and figure Mitt Romney cannot get the Republican nomination because he enacted his own health care program in Massachusetts. If they had to guess today, some in the White House say that Obama will find himself running against Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor.
In contrast with the president's urbane coolness, Huckabee emanates folksiness from his pores. While Obama can seem distant, Huckabee has an everyman quality.
As a white southern male and the former governor of Arkansas, he would have wide appeal not just in the South.
He could make it harder for Obama to win the independent men who helped put Obama over the top in 2008.
Huckabee could make it even more difficult than the economy is likely to make it, for Obama to put together the electoral map of 2008.
North Carolina, for instance, would be a heavier lift for the president. So, too, would battleground states with large rural and suburban swaths like like Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Obama could try to marginalize Huckabee as a former governor without experience on the world stage.
But if the unemployment situation hasn't changed substantially, and there aren't many economists who think that it will have, the economy is likely to be the top issue, negating Obama's foreign-affairs advantage.
Also, it's worth remembering that approach didn't work for the last sitting president, George H.W. Bush who found himself running against a folksy Arkansas governor in 1992.
Meanwhile, as a former practicing preacher, Huckabee talks the talk of evangelical Christians. If many Americans have doubts about Obama's Christianity, they'll have very little doubt about Huckabee's.
Politico suggests Huckabee's building of a $3 million home on the Florida Gulf Coast could be an impediment to a presidential run since he'll need to make a lot of money to pay his $2.8 million mortgage. He may want to keep his Fox News Channel contract as well as his lucrative speaking gigs, the thinking goes.
But the Florida house could actually work for Huckabee. It could enhance his stature in Florida, helping him in his effort to win not just the Republican primary there but, if he were to become the nominee, the state's electoral votes.
Again, on paper, it appears Huckabee would be a formidable challenger to Obama.
Sarah is lit with the candle of Christ. She glows with His love so that few can resist. The Huckster is a side show. Sarah was a conservative governor. The Huckster was a nanny governor. So far Sarah Palin is incomparable.
So much for the Huckster.
Sarah is lit with the candle of Christ. She glows with His love so that few can resist. The Huckster is a side show. Sarah was a conservative governor. The Huckster was a nanny governor. So far Sarah Palin is incomparable.
So much for the Huckster.
“...the economy is likely to be the top issue, negating Obama’s foreign-affairs advantage.”
LOL. So now the old media thinks Obama has an advantage because of his brilliant foreign policy?
He doesn't realize that if he reverses this sentence structure, he answers his own question?
“I don’t know. As to why she seemingly draws ten times the attention, she’s brought an enormous amount of energy to the party."
HuckleBoob...indeed!
Remembers these four things boyos and girlos...
9.8% (and growing)
high engery bills
bailing out union and state worker pension funds
your crappy 401k (while Obama cronies get rich)
At this rate, sparky the wonder dog can get elected and the RNC bigwigs know it. They see Sarah’s appeal and will try to nip it in the bud with a slew of hit pieces and “yadda-yadda” BS mantras.
Oh noes! Huck is whining to his friends in the liberal media again.
Huckabee could be Obama's worst nightmare which might explain why some in the White House are thinking he will be the nominee.
LOL. What a crock! These people DREAM about, and promote Huck getting the nomination because they know how easy he would be to beat.
As a white southern male and the former governor of Arkansas, he would have wide appeal not just in the South.
There they go again, with those racial bigoted stereotypes!
No more RINOS, ever!
You deserve an Emmy just for that headline.
Also: she is attractive and does not have an annoying Elmer Gantry accent.
So, NPR prefers Huck to Sarah. That’s quite an endorsement you’ve got there, Huck.
For one thing - if Huckawhatchacallit were standing across from me, I wouldn’t recognize him. Whereas Sarah has true star quality and magnetism. We won’t get fooled again.
Darn straight!
McCain was all but forgotten about until the plague of open primaries hit.
Heck my vote in Indiana didn't mean squat in the primary, it was already over .
Bristol went on of her own accord - she wasn’t “put on” DWTS.
Vertical stripes are supposed to make you look thin, aren’t they?
She'll get my vote. Huck won't.
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