Huckabee Reaching Out To The Base

The 2008 elections saw John McCain, the GOP establishment candidate, get swamped by the Democrat, in part from a lack of support across the base. Coupled with existing animosity between DC Republicans and the GOP base, I believe the next GOP nominee is going to an individual who understands what's bothering many traditional GOP voters and plays his or her hand accordingly. We're already seeing it with Palin, who is keeping her distance from DC. Now, Huckabee is also seeking to define himself as a "man of the people," not Washington, or the RNC.

Reagan came from the outside to dominate the party for a decade. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see another non-establishment candidate do the same thing beginning in 2012. If Huckabee can carve out a solid base of support among conservatives, including the religious Right, he could prove difficult to beat in the 2012 primaries.

Huckabee rips into NRSC for backing Crist

Former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee (R) on Tuesday lit into the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) for endorsing Gov. Charlie Crist over another Republican in Florida’s open Senate race.

Huckabee announced his official support for former state House Speaker Marco Rubio (R) in a video Tuesday. In an interview with The Hill, he criticized the NRSC for turning its back on a true conservative.

Comments

[mark l.]

not a big fan of huck (his record in AR hardly bolsters his credentials), but...

the forum for his show is absolutely brilliant. caught the willie nelson appearance. it was like watching hee-haw. This is not a criticism-the format for hee-haw was successful and targetted. He will never rise to national prominence unless he becomes the political prince of the south. I really don't see it happening.

love his show, big credit to fox for putting it out there.

[PA]

Heckabee has no conservative credentials based on past performance. The religious angle ain't enough.

[Ad rem]

Huckabee hung around to give us McCain......he's dead to me.

[serfer62]

Hucklberry stayed in the race long enough to help McNasty defeat Romney. He also bad mouthed Sara. I will not vote for him or any DC GOP.

[Gary]

The problem for Huckabee is that even if he does win out over Sarah, (assuming they both actually run) the base will be so pissed at him for all the attacks he'll have to use that they'll stay home. And unfortunately the same goes for anyone else.

So if anyone hopes to actually win in November, they're going to have to find a way of beating her in a very, very nice way, and she's going to have to come out strongly in support of them after.

I'm afraid that so many people like me have their heart set on Sarah that unless she's the one, or perhaps the number two, there's just going to be very little enthusiasm. Unless of course someone else emerges and changes everything.

[Peg C.]

Not a fan of Huck and I don't see him having the economics chops to start digging us out of the utter mess we are and will be in. Mitt could do it but not a fan of his either (I don't know many in the base who are). These are both folks who could enhance an administration but will never win the nomination, IMHO. Huck and Mitt are permanently untrustworthy.

I love Palin and she drives the Dems insane - or rather even further insane. We definitely need someone with the necessary skills and ability to rally the best conservatives to start fixing everything, but who also gets the base's votes. This person will necessarily drive the Dems over the cliff, but it's quite possible the Dems will be so utterly demoralized and in chaos by 2012 that at the very least their votes will be somewhat suppressed. This con artist thug in the WH cannot rally the worshippers a 2nd time. But in our party, unless the RNC has a 98% infusion of new leadership, they have nothing to offer the base but the way NOT to go.

I'm with the commenters who refuse to vote for any Republican who participated in the anti-Sarah campaign. Period. And after voting for McCain, I will never again sell my soul. Ain't gonna happen.

[apodoca]

Huckabee is a nasty, mean-spirited, and vicious man who thinks a mealy-mouthed smile and a faux-innocent look will cover his viciousness. If he's the GOP candidate, I'm sitting out the election. The only difference between Huckabee and Obama is abortion.

[mark l.]

I kinda wish him success in the forum he has going.

If huck is smart, and sees his limited potential in national poliitics, he should focus on his show.

I'm going to compare it's potential to "firing line"...buckley had a niche appeal to intellectual conservatives, but huck can offer the same thing for religious conservatives. While the demographics would be completely different, the potential for an audience is three times the size that of buckley's wildest dreams.

if he runs again, he is a living demonstration of the "peter principle".

The potential for him to branch out further into politics-the genius of the rick warren interview could be emulated by huck being the host/moderator of a debate.

I share the cynicism of the above posters, but one of the biggest failures of the gop is to hold a debate in front of a friendly host. I watch dems do their debates on ONLY friendly venues, and boycott fox. The tone and tenor of the debate is so easy to manipulate, not by the debaters, but by the questioners.

A huck hosted debate would give him the chance to provide the perfect forum for a fair and accurate discussion of conservative ideals. It lets huck share the stage and grow in prominence. Forgetting the disaster of his candidacy, there are things that he does better than any conservative out there and see him as potentially one of the great supporting figures in conservatism.

[mark l.]

the shorter version of the above argument:

if you could replace "falwell/swaggert" movement "for huckabee/warren" movement...
isn't it a no brainer?

[kasper]

Agreed, apodoca. That shmuck Huckabee will hitch his filthy wagon on anything that seems to be moving in the direction of giving him facetime.

Everything that comes from him is dishonest and creepy.

Put Newt in the same ship and let them drift away. Can't stand either one.