Buoyed by his surprise second-place finish in the Iowa Republican straw poll, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is plotting an even bigger coup against Mitt Romney in the first presidential primary, in New Hampshire.
His inspiration for the audacious plot comes from two unlikely people: Pat Buchanan and Bill Clinton.
Clinton, the original man from Hope, Ark., Huckabee’s home town, was no better known to New Hampshire voters in the autumn of 1991 than Huckabee is today, while Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, leads the Granite State field. But, despite the Gennifer Flowers and draft-dodging scandals that plagued his campaign there, Clinton won enough friends to finish second in New Hampshire to 1992’s neighboring candidate, former Massachusetts senator Paul Tsongas.
Thanks to New Hampshire, Clinton proclaimed himself the “comeback kid” and went on to thrash Tsongas in the follow-up contests in Florida, Georgia and the rest of the South.
Huckabee figures that if he can just get past Romney in New Hampshire, he can do the same thing to him when the 2008 battle shifts south to Florida and South Carolina in January.
he hasn’t a chance. but he excites people like David Broder, I’ll give him that.
Does any Republican have a chance? Could that be why Mike Bloomberg left the Republican Party?
Many Americans seem quite disinclined toward either Democrats or Republicans. When I was a kid, it was “I Like Ike”, and Ike was really neither Democrat or Republican. I recall a lot of stumbling around at his political beginning to see which ticket he would be willing to run on. As a five-star, he had remained rather independent of politics Now, maybe we should have, “I Like Mike” buttons.
Another story about Ike: When academics heard that Eisenhower would be named president of the Columbia University, they all asked: “Why on earth would Milton leave Hopkins?”
How about Richardson for the Dems and Huckabee for the Repubs?
These candidates need to begin talking about character instead of experience (even though these two guys may have both).
Mitt Romney will likely be our next President. Sorry if that dissappoints (and I know it does).
i heart huckabee (could not resist)
he & brownback seem like the only true conservatives on the gop side. rudy is the mussolini of manhattan – mccain is done – mitt is a panderer – thompson, well, c’mon
the way huckabee advanced education reform & responded to katrina refugees is commendable
2. CanaAnglican wrote:
Does any Republican have a chance? Could that be why Mike Bloomberg left the Republican Party?
NO…He left the party because he is a Democrat.
bob
great recent quote from huckabee:
“You know, I’ve never hated the Clintons. I still don’t, I have great respect for them. He made a lot of mistakes — a lot of personal ones — but you know something that I think should not be forgotten. There’s two things about Bill Clinton I tell Republicans, it drives them nuts, but here it is.
Number one, don’t get it lost on you that a kid out of a very small, Southern rural state aspired to be President of the United States. This kid came from a dysfunctional family — alcoholic abusive father. And yet he didn’t just aspire, he was elected president of the United States not once, but twice. That is an affirmation of the system. And it’s a wonderful testament to give to every kid in America that no matter where you’ve come from, you’ve got an opportunity to do something extraordinary.
The second thing, and this’ll really wrangle, again, some of my Republican colleagues. Bill Clinton and Hillary went through some horrible experiences in their marriage, because of some of the reckless behavior that he has admitted he had. I’m not defending him on that — it’s indefensible. But they kept their marriage together. And a lot of the Republicans who have condemned them, and who talk about their platform of family values, interestingly didn’t keep their own families together.”
Imagine Kaiser Dobson or Tony Perkins making that last point to Guiliani, Thomspn, McCain or Gingrich. Just imagine…
No. 6. Hi Bob Lee,
That is possible. But then the question becomes: “Why did he leave the Democratic Party before running for mayor in a city that is perhaps 70% Democrat?” Can you fill us in on how he has acted like a Democrat in NYC? I have heard that he has been very conservative when it comes to fiscal matters, cleaning up quite a mess left by Rudy. I don’t live in NY, so some of these things are mysteries to me. Anyway, thanks for the comment and possible answer to my question.
Mike is an unlikely candidate, for in any election an independent has about as much chance being elected as does a Republican in this one. I say that with great sorrow as I do not see the Democrats doing the nation’s future any good.
I like Mike!