What the heck is going on with Huckabee?? Tied with Hillary now??

[Greenwood]

Can someone, ANYONE, please explain to me the fascination the GOP has with Huckabee? I come into work this morning and the wingnut Rush fans have my office door pasted with photocopies of "Huckabee in deadheat with Hillary nationally" all over it.

I just give up on politics. Nothing works out and I always find myself swimming upstream, it seems.

[rucky]

1. The GOP-ers have realized what we're realizing...

He has the best chance against the Dem.

[ConfidentialStatus]

15. He doesn't have a chance

against Hillary. My guess is... someone knows this. What I mean by that... the common folks like me have no say. This is a setup. Only time will tell. I believe guys like Dennis and Ron are for the people, not a select few.

Please don't attack me, I'm just speaking from my heart and I've talked to the people in the streets in my community. Calling it as I see it. For those who don't think I have talked to the people in the streets, please do your own survey in your neighborhood.

Come back and please tell me your results.


Peace.

[niceypoo]

27. He is the GOP used toilet paper candidate with the least poop on him

Thats what it boils down to. Rudy is a train wreck and the rest of the candidates are either plastic phonies or psychos.

[rucky]

28. Yep.

You really know your poo. :)

[sniffa]

2. hope to god it's not those 2 matched up

President Huckabee will be hard to say. :puke:

[Hippo_Tron]

3. Huckabee is by all means a better candidate than Romney

Yes he's batshit crazy, but watch him go on the cable shows sometime. He's incredibly personable and charming and from the looks of it, a pretty damn good campaigner.

Huckster is gaining in the polls because Republicans are beginning to see that. But, IMO, he doesn't have a chance. Huckabee doesn't have the necessary ties to the establishment to get the nomination and he's technically an "outsider". Romney has 10x the war chest and that will make the crucial difference. If anything, Huckabee will just move Giuliani down a spot in some of the early states, helping Romney.

[karynnj]

12. In terms of being convincing when he speaks, he may be their Bill Clinton

His answer on immigration was one that many of us would praise if coming from a Democrat. He does not come across as RW as he is. I see your point on not having the organizational ties, but look at the time frame. Particularly for the Republican party ties to the establishment - read Bush - are a negative. This is a time where they need an outsider to win. (That might also be why Romney and Guilliani are high) This may also be the reason behind Rove's insane comment - to make HRC and Edwards closer than the Republican in going to war. That it is not true or rational has not stopped the Republicans in the past.

Hackabee is connected to the establishment of one major activist group of the Republican party - the evangelicals.

[Hippo_Tron]

22. Huckster is no Bill Clinton, but better than anybody they have

He may have Bill's charisma but not his political instinct. Clinton could think on his feet better than anybody.

And while you are right that they would do much better in the General Election with an outsider, they really don't care. Think about 2000. McCain was in every way a stronger candidate than Bush. He probably could have beaten Gore by a reasonably comfortable margin instead of having to steal it. But Bush had the backing of the establishment and a huge amount of money and that led him to win the nomination.

[Carrieyazel]

23. Great post. McCain definitely would have beaten Gore. That was his one moment.

Huge amounts of Indeps would have given him the winning margin. But the Repukes didn't care. They wanted the pathetic Shrub because McCain was too much of a "maverick". Shrub had major vulnerabilities, did not win and had to steal it to get in.

[Christa]

4. He is a messenger from god

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/014

We received a memo from Liberty "Falwell" University on November 30th, signed by Jonathan Falwell, son of the recently deceased Jerry -- and now overseer of the vast Liberty University/Moral Majority corporate empire.

According to Jonathan Falwell, presidential aspirant Mike Huckabee believes that it is God, not himself, who is behind his rise in the polls: "Mr. Huckabee also said that Divine providence was responsible for his recent surge in the polls in Iowa, as he noted that he is the candidate with much less capital firepower than his rivals."

[Olney Blue]

5. Hi Greenwood. Welcome to DU!

:hi:


Cross out the H and put an F. That will probably stop it.

[MethuenProgressive]

6. He's the anti-Mormon anti-Rudy choice.

He's very vunerable. Let's hope he gets the nomination.

[karynnj]

13. I'm not as sure - I would have posted in 2000 that W was very vulnerable

Remember that the Republican will likely control talk radio and most of cable TV. Look at W's record pre- 2000. How the hell did that record, his real personality - known from the 1980s, and his complete failure to answer at least one debate question lead to him coming anywhere near Gore. (I don't know if Frontline did a double Gore/Bush biography in 2000, as they did a Bush/Kerry one in 2004 - but the result would be similar - one candidate doing important good things year after year while they had to stretch to even say anything on Bush.)

In a fair world, Huckabee and Bush would have been very very vulnerable.

[skipos]

7. Remember when DU was full of posts like "Thompson will dooooooom us?"

That was before any dirt was thrown at him. Now he is a non-issue.
The Jesus-rode-a-dinosaur crowd likes the Huckster. Fiscal conservatives hate the shit out of him. Wait until the dirt comes out.

[Teaser]

8. I've seen no such poll

.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. Here

Hillary leads him by one, Obama leads him by four, and the margin of error is four point four... I'd also wait for confirmation from other polls:


http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2008__1/2008_presidential_election/election_2008_huckabee_vs_clinton_obama

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. well, hillary is meeting him

as he rises, while she falls. The latest poll today is really bad news for her. a serious drop of nine points.

[maddiejoan]

10. Media realizes

they won't get the battle from NY with HRC and Giuliani

so they're going with the battle of Arkansas.

minimal re-write

[AlinPA]

11. The RW evangelical-fundamentalists still control the republican party and

they are showing it. Those stories about how those 'murcans have become less influential are turning out to be wrong.

[MonkeyFunk]

16. Republicans realize that their frontrunners suck

Huckabee comes across as smart, capable, self-effacing and just generally likeable and competent.

I've long said he'll be their nominee, and he'll be a formidable one.

[Phoonzang]

17. Republicans suddenly realize that no one we have

can beat him in the GE. Which is why I don't understand why people here are chopping at Rudy, discussing his scandals. Why not wait until he gets the nomination THEN jump on him instead of helping Huckabee by wailing on Giuliani?

[Carrieyazel]

24. Richardson could beat him. He'll challenge Huckabee up front.

And has executive experience as Huckabee does.

[Phoonzang]

29. I think you're right

As you can tell from my avatar... :) Both are governors from non-New England states, but Richardson has much more foreign policy experience. They both have the humble, down-to-earth vibe, but Richardson doesn't have the scary religious beliefs.

The problem is Richardson winning the nomination, which I don't see much chance of. Though with the shakeups in the race, who knows. Maybe he can pull off a serious upset. *crosses fingers*

[ConfidentialStatus]

18. You're not alone

This is the other thing I find with "real" people on the streets. APATHY! They think their vote doesn't matter or count.

[Renew Deal]

19. Their candidates are almost all complete crap.

He's the least crappy. He's presented himself as light years more serious about the presidency. he also fits their mold well. Southern Governor. It's a good mix for them.

[sampsonblk]

20. Huckabee is making all the right moves

He is hammering the points the GOP faithful want to hear. He's doing it very directly, and without apology. I am very impressed with how he's approaching this stage of his campaign.

Its the blueprint for a winning primary campaign.

[ConfidentialStatus]

21. You have that right

What they want to hear... all lip service.

[Orangepeel]

25. he's the same as "unknown republican" except his name is fun to say

maybe people know that he is a baptist preacher and that he lost a lot of weight. But otherwise, he polls well because he's a blank slate.

[laureloak]

26. THAT's why Dems shouldn't choose Hillary.

It would be equivalent to handing the election over to the Republicans. All they needed was a candidate that could pick up the anti-Hillary Democrats and they found it in Huckabee.

Beware Dems. Beware!