Agorism
12-30-2010, 09:57 AM
Is Huckabee the frontrunner?
http://www.salon.com/news/mike_huckabee/?story=/politics/war_room/2010/12/28/huckabee_2012_dark_horse
All of this brings me around to the one big GOP prospect I haven’t yet mentioned: Mike Huckabee. My instinct has been to dismiss him as a serious contender, partly because I’ve assumed his appeal is too narrow (religious conservatives in the South and in caucus states), and partly because of all of the pardons he doled out as governor of Arkansas. But it’s getting harder to ignore the polls: The same CNN survey that shows Palin’s GOP support collapsing also shows — not for the first time — that Huckabee is the most popular ’12 prospect in the party. 67 percent of Republicans say they are “very” or “somewhat” likely to back him for the nomination. Only 59 percent say the same about Romney. (Plus, 40 percent say they are not likely to back Romney, compared to only 31 percent for Huckabee.) The numbers are much worse for Palin (and for Newt Gingrich for that matter, if you think he’s actually running.)
Republicans like Mike Huckabee an awful lot. Granted, it hasn’t been that hard for him to burnish his image these past two years, with his syndicated and Fox News television shows. Plus, his fellow Republicans aren’t out there attacking him, or drawing attention to those pardons, or to some of the other less-than-conservative pronouncements he’s made and positions he’s taken over the years. if he does run — and, unlike with Romney, it isn’t yet clear that he will — Huckabee could see his lofty standing with Republicans erode quickly. But it’s also worth acknowledging that, at least for now, he probably deserves the title “front-runner” as much as — or more than — any other GOP prospect.
http://www.salon.com/news/mike_huckabee/?story=/politics/war_room/2010/12/28/huckabee_2012_dark_horse
All of this brings me around to the one big GOP prospect I haven’t yet mentioned: Mike Huckabee. My instinct has been to dismiss him as a serious contender, partly because I’ve assumed his appeal is too narrow (religious conservatives in the South and in caucus states), and partly because of all of the pardons he doled out as governor of Arkansas. But it’s getting harder to ignore the polls: The same CNN survey that shows Palin’s GOP support collapsing also shows — not for the first time — that Huckabee is the most popular ’12 prospect in the party. 67 percent of Republicans say they are “very” or “somewhat” likely to back him for the nomination. Only 59 percent say the same about Romney. (Plus, 40 percent say they are not likely to back Romney, compared to only 31 percent for Huckabee.) The numbers are much worse for Palin (and for Newt Gingrich for that matter, if you think he’s actually running.)
Republicans like Mike Huckabee an awful lot. Granted, it hasn’t been that hard for him to burnish his image these past two years, with his syndicated and Fox News television shows. Plus, his fellow Republicans aren’t out there attacking him, or drawing attention to those pardons, or to some of the other less-than-conservative pronouncements he’s made and positions he’s taken over the years. if he does run — and, unlike with Romney, it isn’t yet clear that he will — Huckabee could see his lofty standing with Republicans erode quickly. But it’s also worth acknowledging that, at least for now, he probably deserves the title “front-runner” as much as — or more than — any other GOP prospect.