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Huckabee Bid Runs In Circles
Fort Smith Times Record ^ | January 25, 2008 | John Lyon

Posted on 01/26/2008 2:19:54 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

LITTLE ROCK — Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign, like Huckabee himself, is a lot thinner than it used to be.

In a sense, the campaign has come full circle, according to Huckabee’s press secretary, Alice Stewart.

“We’re getting back to where we started,” Stewart said Thursday in an interview with the Arkansas News Bureau at Huckabee’s national campaign headquarters in downtown Little Rock. “We got through Iowa being lean and a small campaign with a very focused message, and we’re now to the point where we are a lean staff but very committed, very dedicated and very loyal to the governor and his message, and certainly are refocused on doing exactly what we did in Iowa.”

This week, the campaign announced it had stopped providing transportation for news media covering Huckabee. On the heels of that announcement came word that some top Huckabee aides were working without pay or had left the campaign.

“We’re working on strategically how to go about placing ads in different states, and we’re using all our resources to do that,” Stewart said. “As a result of that, some of the staffers agreed to work without pay so we can use our resources in that area.”

Stewart said she did not know if Huckabee’s three grown children, Sarah, David and John Mark — all of whom have been paid members of their father’s campaign staff — were among those staffers now working without pay.

“I’m not going to go down that employee list of who’s getting paid and who’s not,” she said.

Huckabee also has said he would not run television ads in Florida, which holds its primary Tuesday. Stewart said Huckabee will campaign in Florida every day through Tuesday, but also will make trips to Georgia and Alabama in the next few days.

Huckabee experienced a surge after winning the Iowa caucus on Jan. 3 but has yet to win another contest. Recent polls show him ranging from 13 percent to 17 percent in Florida, trailing Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and, in some polls, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Though not conceding Florida, Huckabee apparently is saving some of his limited resources for states that will hold primaries or caucuses a week later, on Feb. 5 — especially Georgia.

“We have a strong support group in Georgia, a strong showing of grassroots efforts that are very established,” Stewart said Thursday.

Florida, a winner-take-all state, was left with 57 delegates this year after the national Republican Party stripped the state of half its delegates as punishment for its early primary. Georgia has 72 delegates at stake.

Huckabee’s strategy could pay off, but it’s risky, said Art English, a political science professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

“I think when you’re depending on Georgia and sort of saying, well, Georgia’s got more delegates than Florida ... that’s not really the issue. The issue is showing electoral strength — winning primaries and caucuses, and not finishing third or fourth or a poor second,” English said.

Stewart also mentioned Missouri and Oklahoma as states Huckabee will focus on leading up to Feb. 5.

Arkansas, where Huckabee served as governor for 10 years, also holds its presidential primary Feb. 5. Stewart said Huckabee will not take his home state for granted, but she was unsure how much campaigning he will do here.

“He will spend some time here, but the key is to go to the states and the areas where people have not met him and are not as familiar with his conservative message and spread that to folks that haven’t heard it before,” she said.

As of Thursday, no television ads were planned in the state, although that could change, Stewart said.

Plenty has changed since Huckabee opened his campaign headquarters on Valentine’s Day last year. Talking to reporters that day about his status as a second-tier candidate — polling nationally behind, for example, Fred Thompson — Huckabee said, “There will be some people who are in the front now who won’t finish.”

Thompson dropped out of the GOP presidential race Tuesday. Huckabee suggested that if the former Tennessee senator and “Law and Order” actor had done so earlier, Huckabee would have won last weekend’s GOP primary in South Carolina primary, where he finished second to McCain.

Huckabee campaign headquarters started with six paid workers, plus an unknown number of volunteers, in offices that took up a fourth of the 12th floor of the One Union West Capitol Building. The campaign now claims about half of the floor and employs about 25 workers — still a small operation for a man who conceivably could become the next president of the United States.

Signs of the unconventional nature of Huckabee’s campaign abound at his headquarters, including a tote bag from the television comedy show “The Colbert Report,” media passes that say “Chuck Norris approved” and a prominently displayed copy of Huckabee’s book about weight loss.

Though some political observers have speculated otherwise, Stewart insisted Huckabee is in the race to become president and is not interested in a vice presidential spot.

“He has always been focused on the No. 1 position, and that’s where we are today still,” she said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: Arkansas
KEYWORDS: election; electionpresident; elections; fl2008; fundraising; ga2008; gop; huckabee; hucksters; mikehuckabee; primaries; republicans
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Translation: The Huckaboom went Huckabust--they're flat broke.
1 posted on 01/26/2008 2:19:56 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
“We’re getting back to where we started,” Stewart said

That's kinda not where you wanna be at this point in a campaign, Stewart.

2 posted on 01/26/2008 2:20:56 AM PST by Darkwolf377 (Pro-Life atheist)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Huckabee sounds Like he will be Campaigning on Tv on local Talk shows.. He and His wife will drive and His campaign team left will Campaign on Blogs...


3 posted on 01/26/2008 2:23:45 AM PST by philly-d-kidder ( sOUTH OF iRAQ eAST oF sAUIDI wEST OF iRAN AND nORTH OF dUBAI...kuwait)
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To: philly-d-kidder; dano1; Dane
"He and His wife will drive and His campaign team left will Campaign on Blogs..."

Speaking of that, has anyone seen dano1 and dane recently?

4 posted on 01/26/2008 2:28:51 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Second To None!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
You need a new translator.

They have an ad running in Florida. I would not call that flat broke.

5 posted on 01/26/2008 2:38:20 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper (Hunter's endorsement makes Huckabee the last credible candidate on FR)
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To: Berlin_Freeper
"Huckabee also has said he would not run television ads in Florida, which holds its primary Tuesday. Stewart said Huckabee will campaign in Florida every day through Tuesday, but also will make trips to Georgia and Alabama in the next few days."

Did you read the article?

6 posted on 01/26/2008 2:40:37 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Second To None!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Yes and your "flate broke" comment was appropriately discarded.

Faced with a tighter budget former Governor Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign found enough money for new TV ads, calling for the end of the IRS.

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=59594

7 posted on 01/26/2008 2:47:45 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper (Hunter's endorsement makes Huckabee the last credible candidate on FR)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

You go ahead and support an open borders, tuition for illegals, tax & spend RINO from Hope via Tyson because he’s a Baptist minister with a glib delivery and us real conservatives will sit this one out, I guess.


8 posted on 01/26/2008 2:54:15 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Second To None!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I find your vindictiveness about a man getting his message to the people past Romney’s personal fortune ridiculous considering you are supporting a man that wanted homosexuals in the American Boy Scouts leadership.
9 posted on 01/26/2008 2:58:04 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper (Hunter's endorsement makes Huckabee the last credible candidate on FR)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Huh? I’m not supporting anyone, so who are you talking about? Since Fred Thompson dropped out, there are NO more conservatives running for president. Are you a sheep, so that Duncan Hunter’s endorsement commands you to support Gomer Pyle? I do my own thinking, FRiend. I’m with Rush Limbaugh, in that I may not vote for the GOP this year. You can put all kinds of lipstick on that pig, but it won’t make it a conservative.


10 posted on 01/26/2008 3:05:33 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Second To None!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Your opinion is noted. So too is your penchant of thinking you speak for all conservatives.

Sorry to burst your bubble but you only talk for yourself. And if you don’t think Rush Limbaugh will support the republican nominee over the democrat then you have a poor understanding of Rush Limbaugh. And yes including McInsane.

11 posted on 01/26/2008 3:11:23 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper (Hunter's endorsement makes Huckabee the last credible candidate on FR)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; Berlin_Freeper

McCain wants more amnesty for illegals, Julie-Annie wants to give them welfare and Hickabee wants to give both.

Romney is the last option left. The rest can go to hell...

Standing up on the national stage next to a short, fat old hag, the last thing the Republicans need is a weak, frail old man.

Romney is a vibrant, healthy man and like it or not, in our image driven society, it is solely that image that will elect him.


12 posted on 01/26/2008 3:14:24 AM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: Sir Francis Dashwood
“Romney is a vibrant, healthy man and like it or not, in our image driven society, it is solely that image that will elect him.”

Despite your unusually strong physical attraction to Romney of Massachusetts, that is not what everyone is saying...

from TIME
Friday, Jan. 25, 2008
From the day he announced his candidacy, observers have noted that Mitt Romney “looks presidential,” yet this appearance advantage did not particularly help Romney in the early primary states. In Iowa and New Hampshire, states where voters expect — and usually receive — face time with every candidate, Romney came across on the stump as stilted and rehearsed. Voters flocked instead to the personality-rich and cash-poor campaigns of Mike Huckabee and John McCain.

“Sometimes he’s so polished, he’s polished almost to a flaw,” said Brian Wood, 44, a real estate developer at a rally in Sarasota, Fla., expressing a common concern. “People don’t think he’s human.”

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1707027,00.html

13 posted on 01/26/2008 3:23:29 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper (Hunter's endorsement makes Huckabee the last credible candidate on FR)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Time magazine???

Romney looks like an un-feminized man. Tall and muscular. The rest look old, frail and severely out of shape...

Of course, the leftist Time magazine wants to define American manhood as wimpy and feminized, not virile and ambitious.

I would love to see the candidates actually have fist fights. I would put money on Romney.


14 posted on 01/26/2008 3:31:42 AM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: Sir Francis Dashwood
“I would love to see the candidates actually have fist fights. I would put money on Romney.”

Or perhaps mud-wrestle in a Massachusetts gay bar?

15 posted on 01/26/2008 3:39:54 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper (Hunter's endorsement makes Huckabee the last credible candidate on FR)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
yeah, but the Huckabee bid served its purpose for the Rockefeller puppetmasters - the GOP has been greatly weakened and divided by his campaign

It gives the primary Rockefeller candidate, Hillary Clinton, a much easy chance of victory in November.

The game is almost over - Diebold will do the rest...

16 posted on 01/26/2008 3:40:11 AM PST by chilepepper (The map is not the territory -- Alfred Korzybski)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

That is Julie-Annie’s deal... I never saw Mitt wear a skirt...


17 posted on 01/26/2008 3:42:23 AM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He’s a good guy and definetly outperformed the expectations from when he announced, and I think he did a lot to show that evangelicals are forever an unforsakeable part of the foundation of the Republican party, but his loss in SC was probably fatal to his chances this year. If he stays in, he’ll win a good chunk of delegates from the deep southern states, but there comes a point when it’s time to admit the game is over.

It’s between two guys right now. In January 2009, we will be swearing in either President Romney or President McCain.


18 posted on 01/26/2008 4:17:54 AM PST by Dragonspirit (We fight it out as good friends now, but in 2008 we UNITE against our enemy!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Huckabee suggested that if the former Tennessee senator and “Law and Order” actor had done so earlier, Huckabee would have won last weekend’s GOP primary in South Carolina primary...”

Dream on, Huckabee. Most of those votes are going to Romney, if anyone at all. Had Fred not been in the race, Huck may well have come in third behind McCain and Romney. His support tops out at around 40-50% of evangelicals. That does not a winner make, no matter how he spins it.


19 posted on 01/26/2008 4:18:21 AM PST by LadyNavyVet (I don't vote for Democrats, and that includes John McCain.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; Berlin_Freeper
2ndDV speaks for many of us BF. Some of us actually love this Nation enough that we have made a lifetime study of the formation of this Nation... the founding and subsequent drafting of documents touched by GOD himself. We study the actions and writings of those men that actually created and formed the Constitution. We have studied the Federalist Papers and other writings of the time. We use this and a belief in the BEDROCK foundation of Conservatism do make our decisions. Celebrity and political endorsements mean nothing to us. Freedom and security... both National and personal, are highest amongst our concerns.

We agree with Rush Limbaugh and other BEDROCK Conservative thinkers... those that do what they do for love of country and not for love of celebrity or money. We scorn Oprah type politics or who can get the most corrupt number of fellow DC thieves to endorse them. ALL positions and program proposals... all directions put forth by men are measured against tried and true Conservative ideology and principles. If it does not fit into the structure of Conservatism, we pass on it... and we pass, at this time, on any of the four candidates left in the Republican race. A 5 pound mallet couldn’t make these square pegs fit into the round hole they seem so intent on crawling into. We may just pass on voting for the office of President... while we wait, we look to GOD for a miracle.

LLS

20 posted on 01/26/2008 5:10:55 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (Support America, Kill terrorists, Destroy dims and vote for?)
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