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Jewish World Review
May 2, 2011
/ 29 Nissan, 5771
Huckabee decision will shape GOP presidential race
By
Byron York
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The shape of the Republican presidential race depends on Mike Huckabee. The primary season will be one kind of contest with the former Arkansas governor in the race, and another without him. With Huckabee, the race would feature a favorite of social conservatives in a leading role in a campaign likely to focus on economic issues. Without him, a more economic-minded candidate might lead, with several other candidates vying for what would have been Huckabee's social-conservative spot.
Which will it be? These days, among the people who have known and worked with Huckabee, there is a growing sense that he's leaning toward another run for the White House. What follows is based on conversations with a number of people close to Huckabee, but not with Huckabee himself.
Huckabee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney finished in a virtual tie for second place in the 2008 Republican race. Now, Romney is running while Huckabee, happily appearing on Fox News, ABC radio, and in best-selling books, is holding back. Yet an undecided Huckabee is still a major factor in early polls.
Most surveys show Huckabee and Romney in the lead, with Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and the rest of the possible Republican field trailing at some distance. The Huckabee-Romney lead was in place before the rise of Donald Trump and will likely remain after the Trump phenomenon plays out.
Huckabee knows that polls at this stage reflect name recognition as much as than anything else, but on the other hand, he is polling ahead of other GOP politicos -- Gingrich, Palin and Romney -- who also have high name recognition. When a politician sees himself at the top of presidential polls, it has a powerful effect -- to push him toward running.
In addition to the polls, Huckabee's experience during a 29-stop tour last March to promote his book, "A Simple Government," made a big impression on him. In six stops in Iowa and five in South Carolina, as well as stops in Florida and elsewhere, he met large and receptive crowds -- the living, breathing embodiment of his high poll numbers.
During the tour, Huckabee started talking more frequently with friends and political associates. If he ran, what would a campaign look like? What would it cost? How would it work?
Huckabee knows a 2012 campaign wouldn't be the same as '08. Back then, he came out of nowhere, with no money, but with a small, devoted following among social conservatives. He won the Iowa caucuses with a tiny fraction of the resources Romney poured into the race.
This time around, Huckabee would undoubtedly have more donors and more support. But campaign finances are perhaps not as big a concern as personal finances. Huckabee has never had much money -- the governor of Arkansas was the lowest-paid in the nation during many of the 11 years he served -- and his '08 campaign was hampered by his need to make a living. Even as he stumped in Iowa and elsewhere, he had to take time off each month to make paid speeches. That's how he supported himself.
Now Huckabee, with his Fox program and other projects, is well paid for the first time in his life. But if he becomes a candidate, he'll have to leave Fox, as Gingrich and Rick Santorum have already done. (One note: I am a Fox News contributor but have no knowledge of Huckabee's arrangements with the network.)
If he runs, Huckabee, as a front-runner, would likely receive more scrutiny than ever before. In '08, he took some hits when it was reported that he gave clemency to dangerous criminals who committed murder after he recommended they be freed. In a 2012 race, there would be a more detailed examination of his record as governor, as well as the rest of his life. For example, before politics, Huckabee spent more than a decade as a minister. How much do we know about that part of his career? Not a lot.
The prospect of a Huckabee candidacy, much less a Huckabee victory, makes a lot of Washington Republicans deeply uncomfortable. Economic conservatives dislike Huckabee for what they feel is his squishy record on taxes. Foreign policy conservatives don't like him, either, mostly for his lack of experience with their issues. If he does mount a campaign, Huckabee would likely argue that the groups have much in common -- most social conservatives are also fiscal conservatives -- and he can win wide support. Whether that is true can only be tested by a campaign. If there is one.
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Previously:
04/27/11 Get ready for game of chicken over debt ceiling
04/25/11 McCain: Libyan rebels seek U.S. recognition, might pay for war costs
04/18/11 Have the U.S. and NATO given up on Libya mess?
04/11/11 Reforming entitlements is key to a strong military
04/05/11 Jihadis Who Killed Americans Get U.S. Support in Libya
04/04/11 Unions deploy money and muscle in Battle of Wisconsin
03/30/11 Labor fight in Wisconsin is far from over
03/28/11 Obama fails to grasp the gravity of going to war
03/21/11 Union equates lavish benefits to black civil rights
03/15/11 GOP should heed lesson of 1991: No guts, no glory
03/14/11 GOP focuses on NPR's subsidies, not its politics
03/08/11 While Obama seeks new ideas, his bureaucrats stifle them
02/28/11 Why the GOP shouldn't fear a government shutdown
02/22/11 In Hawaii, a dispiriting glimpse of one-party rule
02/21/11 Obama team uses slippery words to tout budget
02/15/11 Myth and memory: The battle over Reagan's legacy
02/07/11 Invoking Reagan, Palin says this is a time for choosing again
01/31/11 With each passing year, Reagan grows larger in the American political imagination
01/24/11 House GOP begins long drive to dismantle Obamacare
01/17/11 GOP gears up again to strip NPR of federal funds
01/10/11 To House GOP, illegal immigration is a jobs issue
01/03/11 Obamacare mess is legacy of Dems' moment of power
12/27/10 Smiling Dems will soon cry Washington is broken
12/20/10 Dems are earmark junkies but GOP goes straight
12/13/10 Needed: A more presidential Palin
12/06/10 With Dems in a funk, Obama charts a new course
11/29/10 Obama's poll numbers point to his defeat in 2012
11/22/10 Holder ignored risks of civilian terror trials
11/16/10 Dems love facts and science --- except when they don't
11/08/10 Obama, new GOP lawmakers are on collision course
11/01/10 New GOP star on track to defeat Dem legend Russ Feingold
10/26/10 If Dems lose, Obama will blame everyone but himself
10/19/10 Profligate Congress should read its own bills
10/13/10 Why Big Labor couldn't match Glenn Beck's rally
10/11/10 Trash-talking Democrat faces defeat in Florida
10/05/10 A GOP unknown in striking distance of Barney Frank
09/28/10 Administration inflates green-jobs numbers
09/20/10 In Delaware, GOP should target Dems, not O'Donnell
09/14/10 GOP Insiders Wary of Landslide Predictions
08/31/10 For Obamacare supporters, judgment day approaches
08/23/10 Obama has himself to blame for Muslim problem
08/17/10 Cut spending without cutting services? Start here
08/17/10 For Michelle Obama, extravagance dents popularity
08/09/10 Obama's zealous civil rights enforcer gets busy
08/02/10 A battle between Left and Right --- inside the GOP
07/26/10 GOP spoiling for fight over Berwick appointment
07/20/10 How long will the public tolerate Afghan war?
07/12/10 NASA's Muslim outreach: Al Jazeera told first
07/02/10 Legal complaint against Gore is detailed, credible
06/28/10 Obama and Dems heading for electoral disaster
06/21/10 Who told Obama drilling is absolutely safe?
06/14/10 Billions for green jobs, whatever they are
06/07/10 Sestak a no-go for any job. So what was the deal?
05/31/10 As economic worries worsen, White House puts on the glitz
05/25/10 GOP dilemma: Fight Kagan, or go along?
05/11/10 Enforcing nation's immigration laws would be a bargain
05/03/10 How Obama could lose Arizona immigration battle
04/27/10 What's behind the anti-Tea Party hate narrative?
04/20/10 As government expands, beware the post-office example
04/19/10 Who wins in 2010? Good luck reading tea leaves
04/12/10 GOP Obamacare strategy: Try repeal, then cut
04/05/10 Obamacare was mainly aimed at redistributing wealth
03/30/10 Message to Dems: People still don't like Obamacare
03/23/10 The coming consequences of Obamacare
03/16/10 Marco Rubio and the Republicans who love him
03/15/10 GOP hopes town halls take health care off table
03/08/10 Dems turn risky health vote into manhood contest
03/01/10 Why Obama defies the public on health care
02/22/10 South Carolina mulls 2012: Romney? Palin? Huck?
02/16/10 GOP winning war over Miranda rights for terrorists
02/09/10 Who are the 300 terrorists held in U.S. prisons?
02/02/10 Is Obama dissatisfied with being president?
01/19/10 The Republican dilemma: Good Michael or Bad Michael?
01/12/10 Now the lawmakers are figuring out what they didn't know
01/05/10 GOP deserves blame for Democratic excesses
12/29/09 Dems' dreams of a blue West begin to turn red
12/22/09 Why Dems push health care, even if it kills them
11/30/09 Dems' kamikaze mission: Health care by New Year's
11/23/09 Why it's a mistake to bring Gitmo prisoners here
11/16/09 Dems' slick fix: $210 billion of fiscal restraint
11/10/09 Obama can't be community organizer for the world
11/02/09 At key moment, Obama leaves health post unfilled
10/26/09 Fierce urgency' for jobs, not health care
10/12/09 Facts hurt Jennings in youth sex controversy
10/05/09 Amid terror threat, Dems chip away at Patriot Act
09/27/09 In Afghanistan, let U.S. troops be warriors
09/21/09 Under fire, Democrats abandon ACORN in drove
09/14/09 Dems stifle Republican health care plans
09/08/09 For Dems, a serious Charlie Rangel problem
09/07/09 Obama's speech: Wrong setting for a sales job
09/01/09 What happened to the antiwar movement?
08/24/09 Why Dems may jam through health care plan
08/17/09 GOP thinks the unthinkable: Victory in 2010
08/10/09 The empty words of a journalist turned flack
08/03/09 Probe finds new clues in AmeriCorps IG scandal
07/27/09 Obamacare haunted by unkept promises of stimulus
07/20/09 Why the GOP failed the Sotomayor test
07/13/09 What the GOPers will ask Sotomayor
06/29/09 Serious questions remain for Mark Sanford
06/22/09 How GOPers can crack the AmeriCorps scandal
06/16/09 Worried about Sotomayor? Consider Andre Davis
06/08/09 Can Mitch Daniels save the GOP?
06/01/09 When the Dems derailed a Latino nominee
05/26/09 Why the GOP will defeat Obama on healthcare
05/19/09 Rosy report can't hide stimulus problems
05/12/09 The Reagan legacy is the man himself
05/05/09 Sen. Specter, meet your new friends
04/27/09 Ted Olson: ‘Torture' probes will never end
04/20/09 Who's Laughing at the Axis of Evil today?
04/14/09 Congress needs Google to track stimulus money
04/06/09 Beyond AIG: A bill to let Big Government set your salary
03/30/09 On Spending and the Deficit, McCain Was Right
03/24/09 It's Obama's crisis now
03/17/09: Geithner-Obama economics: A joke that's not funny
© 2009, NEA
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