Fitting the Pieces for Mike Huckabee

By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | September 1st, 2009 at 11:30 AM |

RESIZE: AAA

The excitement this morning on Twitter seems all about Mike Huckabee. There has been no doubt in my mind that he never stopped running for President after conceding the nomination to John McCain last year. He just changed which Presidential election he was running in.

Which is why it was such a huge (but very silly, given the timing) argument late last year over who “came in second” in the primary race, and by proxy who the early 2012 “frontrunner” was going to be. Mitt Romney had a dedicated core of supporters fighting for him, and so did Huckabee. Some of them on each side just wouldn’t give up, while the rest of us just got back to work.

It appears that Mike Huckabee himself got back to work as well. Gone is the religious demagoguery from the campaign, as are the left-wing economic ideas he was pushing. Instead we have a man who’s fighting the embattled Barack Obama on his reckless spending and disastrous foreign policy, and the Democrats apparently are scared by it. In 2008 the Democrats loved him, but in 2009 they hate him. That in itself is a change that speaks well of Huckabee’s future hopes.

Republicans are creatures of habit. We tend to like seeing the same batches of people in one primary after another, and eventually the stable, persistent men get their shot. Even John McCain got his. But if Mike Huckabee wants to try for his, there is one more thing he needs to do: Help us take back the House.

As of a month ago, his PAC raised over $300,000. That money needs to get out to Repubican challengers nationwide, with less of a Southern bias than he now shows. Democrats took the House by challenging everywhere, and so will we. Reports are that Huckabee plans to back 50 candidates with his PAC. I hope he does, and I hope he funnels substantial amounts of money to each both through the PAC, and through direct (and free) fundraising stops.

If Mike Huckabee can be a rainmaker for Republicans who take back the House, then yes, Huckabee becomes a leading man in the Republican party and will be excellently positioned to run again in 2012. By proving he could raise money and be a genuine party leader, he will have earned it.

That is the missing piece for Mike Huckabee, and I truly hope he fits it into place.

Tags: 2010, 2012, 50 State Strategy, fundraising, Mike Huckabee

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES | LOGIN TO COMMENT | REGISTER TODAY

http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/blog/loren_heal Socrates

by the presence of someone named “Barack Hussein Obama” in the White House. Before that, you had all of these Northern European names, and then we were asked to vote for someone named “Huckabee”? Get real. But the glass ceiling for people with weird names has been shattered.

Mitt and Newt also benefit, as does Sarah in a different way.

Just saying.
aesthete

in the primary, and it’s doubtful whether or not I would in the general. That said, I think that the presidential candidate for 2012 should be (and likely will be) someone who is involved in the 2010 elections, both rhetorically and financially.

(Personally, I’d love for him to run for Senate against the Dem in Arkansas, or campaign for the Republican running against her. Oh, well.)
http://www.letfreedomringblog.com ggross56

Mitt Romney & Mike Huckabee are yesterday’s news. Neither stand a chance if Sarah Palin or Tim Pawlenty jump into the race. Palin & Pawlenty are the best retail politickers I’ve ever seen, which will play extremely well in New Hampshire & Iowa.

Romney has to defend signing Romneycare into law, which has been a total disaster.

Huckabee has to explain why he’s changed from being a pro-life socialist to being a pro-life capitalist. The obvious implication being that he’s simply another opportunist who’ll say whatever he needs to say to get elected.
http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

We’ll see who does better for us in 2010.
louisiana

consider Huckabee “southern biased”. In the link you provided, I would consider only 6 (VA; FL; AL; S.C.; GA; TX) as southern states. Maybe I’m missing something here. Is he donating more to So. states, than in the others?
BTW I’m basically Huckabee neutral.
JadedByPolitics

money to Conservatives but I don’t see him a very viable Presidential candidate. That whole populist thing is NOT going to be working for people in 2010 or 2012. The pushback against government spending and taxes is going to be huge and he is not a small government guy.
http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

I don’t think you can deny the tilt in the map.

He just needs to go find more candidates further to the north and in the west.
aesthete

His donations are a little bit Southern bias, but not overly so, IMO.
http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

If he goes and makes a lot of friends by being a key leader in winning the House, it’s not going to matter what people said about him in 2008.

If he keeps attacking Barack Obama on spending and getting the Democrats mad, it’s not g oing to matter what happened back then, either.

All that will matter is that he will have remade himself into a successful fundraiser, broad-based winner for the party, and outspoken critic of socialism.

People aren’t going to care about 2008 in 2012 if he stays busy and does what I said.
aesthete

It seems to me that the place where he could be hit really hard would be in the contrast of rhetoric and his record. I doubt that he’ll have any problems with experience (he was governor for 10 years), but if he becomes a serious candidate for 2012, I can see his opponents in both the primary and the general using his fiscally liberal record against him in a year that will likely focus on fiscal issues.
jonreagan

I listen to Huckabee’s TV show occasionally. He seems to talk incessantly about how “we all have to be civil to each other”…..and very little else. That’s a worthy idea, but probably not what the voters will want from a President after four years of Obama. Between BO”s apologiy tours, and believing that all problems can be solved by just sitting down with our enemies and making nice, I think the voters will be ready for some Reagan-style toughness.

And in a broader sense, the incompetence of this President—who isn’t qualified to run a hardware store much less the greatest country in the world—probably means we don’t want any more amateur hours for a while. I know that having any kind of business/private sector experience is a mortal sin in Obama–land, but it would be great if our 2012 nominee had some significant leadership credentials and background outside of government.
Lelouch

What prompted this front-pager ?
http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

A sudden rush of talk of Huckabee on Twitter. I think it was started by that lefty whining about him for moving to the right.
jackhammer

I remember him advocating abolishing the IRS and replacing it with an across the board 18% Value Added Tax, and calling it a Fair Tax.

I do not understand how this can be considered Left Wing.
Jim Tomasik

And where o’ where is Becker?
Ausonius

would appeal more to me than Huckabee.

They may not have had “executive experience” per se, but their years in Congress show competence and a conservative philosophy.

Unfortunately, they have not stepped up to the plate: perhaps they do not want the stress of such a campaign on their families, or are just not interested.

Just from the standpoint of “look” for the video era, Boehner beats Huckabee: Macy’s vs. Wal-Mart!
jackhammer

so the polite thing to do would have been to provide an answer.

I just reread the wikipedia entry on his campaign.

The things I can guess you might be referring to as left wing were some sort of fuel taxes he proposed, or some of the stuff he said about wanting to work together with unions.

So if I am forgetting something, be polite and say what it is.
jackhammer

I am pretty far from being a southern baptist, and I have my issues with his creationist tendencies, but he speaks better off the cuff than Obama with a prompter. I also have to say that his answer to the creationist question at the debate had a very Reaganesque, comforting feelign to it, and if you look at the first of the 3 posts that come up on RS with the Huckabee tag, it appears, that he was quite a hit at CPAC.
http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

But he was gung-ho for taxes and spending back then. Remember his disgusting “Jesus juice” remark?
http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens
jackhammer

I promise this is my last comment today….

but I totally disagree on the last sentence. Huckabee has a fatherly look, and with the weight gone he looks stately. Boehner is orange, and that looks a bit too try hard slick for most peoples taste….and last I checked, Wal mart has had a far better run the last 15 years than Macy’s.
Lelouch

I think it was started by his radio monologue on Kennedy, when he made a now infamous assertion that Kennedy would have been sent home with a couple of pain pills and told to die.
Ausonius

Just being facetious!

Orange? Boehner eats too many carrots? I had not noticed that: being from Cincinnati, maybe he just has a nice stain!

You are quite right about the department store battle: still, for me Huckabee is a difficult sale.
Kayla

I think Romney is done. He’s defending Romneycare in MA which is a Obamacare 2. Huckabee was a tax increaser and called for college tuition for illegals. Think they are both done for. But I’ve read that Thune has had a conservative record and is very popular in SD.
http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

I’d respond, but I really don’t see the point. Isn’t it enough we have 2-year campaigns for Senate and House seats we’re currently in the midst of? I really can’t stomach 4-year Presidential campaigns.
mikefisk

Populism tends to have a pretty widespread swath of appeal in this country… and, if the economy hasn’t recovered considerably by the time campaigning begins for 2012, it’s a wave he could ride into the White House.

That being said, his proclivities in terms of his own views of limited government and libertarianism make him almost anathema to people of my stripe, but when have conservative-leaning libertarians ever decided an election? Not like I’d vote for the Democrat out of spite (as tempting as it would be with him).
http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

This is a thread about what Mike Huckabee should do if he wants to run in 2012.
strategerist

This was proven, in my mind and it can never be unproven.

He take on the Rifqa Bary situation was absolutely disgusting. His mealy mouth pandering so as not to offend a particular religion when a young girl was being threatened with an honor killing was horrific, cowardly and repulsive.

These are dark and dangerous times and we need men with titanium stones who are not afraid to call evil by name and stand up for the weak, the oppressed and the helpless.

I can forgive many things in a politician, but not this one. Huckabee is unfit.
Richard Mullins

is already had an election in May. If he’s going to do so good for 2010 here in TX, lets have some money to people that need it.
Jim Tomasik

No harm intended. I apologize.

I thought you were saying he was promoting an 18% VAT. He wasn’t. He was promoting HR25 which is a one time 23% inclusive consumption tax at the point of sale for new products and services. It reduces the corp tax rate to zero.
illinois

Game on!
Return to Revolution

= very difficult for me to get excited about anything. Pawlenty and/or Palin, now we’re talking. Or how about someone who isn’t a tax&spend liberal with the ability to suddenly find conservative roots whenever the electorate realizes they don’t like tax&spend liberals.
69Vette

Huckabee showed himself to be a phony, a liar, and a bigot throughout the primary. His pandering to those on conservative ideas he thought would be winners is reason enough to disqualify him. If the right wishes to stay on the sidelines in yet one more election cycle, by all means, he’s your man. Otherwise, that piece of excrement should just go away.
kaufbrew

This party is never going to beat the cRats. Huckabee is a joke – half the conservatives would not vote for him. We are in trouble if we can’t do better than this folks.
kaufbrew

Huckabee is such a phony!!! He out and out lies under the guise of preacherhood. I will never forget his pandering to the people who do not like mormons. I will always hold him responsible for the nomination of John McCain. He cares about no one but himself. He is the Charlie Crist of the State of Arkansas – He is the least presidential – I would be less proud to have someone like that as my President then Jimmy Carter.

If Redstate continues to entertain this idea – goodbye!
r0per

He’s too busy auditioning for a spot as Bass player for the “Soggy Bottom Boys” to run for President. I’m voting for Jeb Bush.
Lelouch

where the heck the preceding posters have been. I have never seen thee before.
illinois

The lefties would go ballistic………Pawlenty would attract more of the middle—Palin would fire up the base!
r0per

Is this a closed site, or clique? Are newcomers not welcomed at Redstate? If that’s the case, please let me know and I’ll be happy to move on to a friendlier conservative site.

Thanks
http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens
http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

THIS IS NOT A GENERIC 2012 FANTASY MATCH THREAD.

WRITE YOUR OWN POST FOR THAT.
Lelouch

rather than giving brainless insults to someone because of his personality, perhaps you should focus on his record ? Just a thought.
Lelouch

that smarts.
Lelouch

think that pretty much sums up where your at politically, and that is not a good thing.
drbob1988

in the primaries. He screwed Mitt by giving McPain his support. Mitt had a much better chance of beating “The One” but apparently Huckabee, the RINO, preferred a racist to a Mormon. I will support whoever his opponent may be in the primaries. Hopefully its a real conservative this time.
Huckabee? Never!
aesthete

or in terms of action on fiscal issues. As an example of his terrible record on rhetoric, I suggest that you take a look at his appearance on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart promoting his new book: he comes unbelievably close to agreeing with Jon Stewart on fiscal policy — and Jon’s a socialist. On the action side of things, he increased spending in Arkansas by extraordinary amounts, and raised taxes, as well, prompting the Club for Growth’s poor ratings on Huckabee’s performance as governor. I don’t have the links on me, but there is plenty on fiscal issues to beat Huck over the head for, and I don’t even want to talk about his rhetoric and limited action on defense (which almost reaches Obama levels of asinine). To be frank, I can’t say that the outcome of having Huckabee as President would be better than having Obama in the WH with a conservative/Republican Congress, which would at least provide some gridlock.
Lelouch

my post was that if one takes issue with something, one doesn’t make petty insults in doing so. It just demeans the argument your making.

The person has a deep issue with Mike Huckabee, and that is alright to have. The problem is that rather than making a intelligent argument, he reduces himself and his position by the childish insults he throws.
Lelouch

I might add that if you are going to make an argument against someone, you might want to bring links, as currently all you have is just your opinion.

Personally, don’t right now. I am more than willing to argue once the primary season starts. Right now is the midterms, which we all should be concentrating on. At this point, every little bit counts. You cannot discredit help from someone just because you don’t like them. Every major player in the party has people who like them, and people who loath them.
r0per

Where I am politically? Well, lets see…The first vote I ever cast was for Ronald Reagan in 1980, I voted to re-elect him, I voted for George H.W. Bush twice, for Robert Dole and for George W. Bush twice. I held my nose and voted for John McCain this last election. I was a member of Young Americans for Freedom while in school and am now a member of The North Houston Tea Party Patriots. I have only voted for one Dem in my life and that vote went to Phil Gramm in 1980. As for Mike Huckabee…He’s a bigger flip flopper than John Kerry and his cheesy show has completely erased what little credibility he might have had. To your charge of my hurling insults at people (Huckabee) because I don’t like his personality….it seems this is a staple here at Redstate, especially toward those who might dissent from the opinion of the people who run this place. Sounds kinda like a mirror image of the KosKids. Oh, and if you need links to verify that Huckabee raised taxes dramatically while Governor of Arkansas and tried to use Romney’s religion as a wedge issue, which makes him a religious bigot, then maybe it’s you lacking the brain.
Richard Mullins

when it comes to national candidates, I’ve vote Republican(or Libertarian when there is no choice) exclusively[the late Frank Tejeda was an exception]. I don’t like to vote in the Primaries and know why Huckabee lost, he’s against the core principals of the Republican party. If he will support some house candidates here Texas that need help(you know districts like TX-23 where money could make the difference), he could help build a better relationship.
Lelouch

I could really care less about your opinion on the subject. My immediate goal is the midterms, I will deal with the primary afterwards.

My point is that you need to quit hurling insults, and challenge based on facts. If you want to spend your time hurling insults, Daily Kos and Huffpo would be your joint. Here at Redstate, we engage in intelligent conversations. We make inteliigent arguments. If you don’t like what we do, you can always leave, we won’t miss you.

By the way, the quickest way to make enemies here is to insult a commentator personally. Please be respectful in your next posts, or you will find out in very short order just how much tolerance the moderators have.

Just a suggestion
JSobieski

we should support that effort. No reason to read 2012 into everything when everything is NOT 2012. There is a country to save after all
Richard Mullins

conservatives. 2012 is crap if we can get 2010 won. That’s only thing that can help him.
JSobieski

I actually had him lower than McCain on my list, but I am all for him showing some conservative muscle and having an impact.
mbecker908

supports conservatives, directs money to their campaigns and helps us take back the House and make a dent in the Senate.

Hell will freeze over before I support him for President though.
Lelouch

that we even made headway on you says a lot. It used to be that you thought that the only good Huck is a dead Huck, as in retired completely from
public life.

Who knows, by 2012 you may actually vote for him, after drinking a ton of whiskey.
Richard Mullins

that we would like Hukabee to help conservatives and that will build his reputation with us. Voting for him in 2012 is completely different(he would have to get stronger on defense than he is now for a good chance to win).
Lelouch

in any shape or form, that came as a surprise to me.
clowngirl

Like a lot of things about Newt. He’s the one potential candidate who jumps out at me as being of Presidential caliber and ready for the job. Haven’t really scrutinized him yet though. Romney’s the only likely candidate I really don’t like.

Huckabee was actually my VP preference – prior to the revelation of Sarah Palin (who I didn’t know much about until she was McCain’s pick) He seems a genuinely nice guy and a man of faith and conviction – but I don’t see him as ready for the Presidency. Palin either – but I do think she’s the more effective of the two and my opinion of her has steadily improved over time.
mbecker908

Mike Huckabee is a bald faced liar, he’s Huey P Long in a preachers costume. He’s never met a problem that more government couldn’t solve and never met a tax that isn’t worthy of being raised. He was governor of AR for ten years and left the Republican Party in worse shape than GWB left the national party in ’08. Mike Huckabee is nothing more than Barack Obama with a southern lilt.

Nothing, absolutely nothing would ever get me to vote for, send money to or in any support that sack of lizard dung for the Presidency. I would vote for John McCain before I voted for Mike Huckabee.

If he wants to run for Senate I’d send him $3. Mostly because I’d like to have a Republican Senator and the $3 is to signify that I think he’s as phony as a $3 bill.

I don’t drink. And when I did drink, I never got drunk enough to vote for Mike Huckabee.

You can take the above to indicate that I would most likely accept help from Lucifer to beat Democrats. Oh, but hey, that’s what I did say.
mbecker908
http://www.stevengivler.blogspot.com Steven

“Republicans are creatures of habit. We tend to like seeing the same batches of people in one primary after another, and eventually the stable, persistent men get their shot. ”

You’re joking, right? I, for one, am sick of “seeing the same batches of people in one primary after another.” Let’s rid ourselves of professional politicians and raise a generation of leaders who haven’t made careers out of running for office.
Lelouch

you need to be more convincing.
aesthete

It’s freaking 2010. There’s no point in arguing candidates ?TM.
Remington_Steele
mbecker908

I no intention of dealing with now, it doesn’t matter.

Come ’12 he will be dead meat out of the gate.
http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

Nice to see you! How’re things in the bottom half of the State?
Lelouch

I have been trying to say that for some time that we need to be concentrating
on 2010. Obviously some people do not agree. I am pretty sure once the primary rolls around we will but heads once more. Until then, truce ?

RS

FRONT PAGE CONTRIBUTOR

Fitting the Pieces for Mike Huckabee

COMMENTS

ALL

COMMENTS

POPULAR

#RSRH

PICK YOUR STATE & GET LOCAL