Could Mike Huckabee be Mr. Right?

I found this article in the Politco. I haven't done this in a long while, but I will add a few highlights from the article and give my own reaction.

• Social conservatives can stop looking for their perfect presidential candidate. There is one Republican who, given his credentials, would appear the likeliest to rally evangelicals and others on the Christian right. He is resolutely anti-abortion, supports a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and is a man of deep faith. He has been elected — and reelected — to statewide office in a Democratic-leaning state. And he’s right under their noses: Mike Huckabee.

Duh, I have been saying this since March.

• The former Arkansas governor and one-time head of his state’s Southern Baptist Convention has been dismissed by many leaders of that movement, not because of any perceived ideological or moral deficiencies but for the most pragmatic of reasons: He simply can’t win, they say.
• But do prominent Christian conservative leaders ensure that outcome when, instead of supporting one of their own and shepherding others to support him, they hold out for a better option or settle for an imperfect — if ostensibly more electable — candidate?

My sentiments actually. Unfortunately, there are people out there who don't want to take the time to seriously research the candidate. They want to wait and see what power hungry "leaders" say.

Some thoughts from Chip Saltsman;

• They all say Mike Huckabee is a great guy — and then they say he can’t win,” laments campaign manager John "Chip" Saltsman, explaining what inevitably happens when Huckabee meets with top leaders of the religious right.
• “‘If you get traction, come back to us,’” Saltsman recounts them as saying, to which Huckabee, in his typically lighthearted manner, replies, “Guys, you are my traction.”
• It’s the consummate political predicament for political dark horses — they can’t be viable if they don’t have a wellspring of support, but if they don’t have a wellspring of support, they can’t be viable.
• “It almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Saltsman admits.
• Summing up the conventional wisdom among social conservative elites, Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told Newsweek that many of his brethren like the very likable former preacher.
• “But nobody thinks he can beat Hillary, and a fear of another Clinton White House outweighs almost everything,” Land explained, referring to Hillary Rodham Clinton, the New York senator and front-runner in the Democratic contest.

OK, this is why I supported Mike Huckabee from the beginning. Where is Mike Huckabee from? Arkansas. Where was Hillary Clinton living during the Clinton's political beginings? Arkansas. Maybe I am being a dork, but, wouldn't this say that Mike Huckabee was able to watch hillary first hand from the begining? He knows the tricks she can play, before she plays them. But instead of "fighting fire with fire" he can show who he really is without playing dirty tricks. All these other guys won't be able to predict her tricks. They will just have to wait for her tricks, and then they will play dirty tricks and then it will be another episode of politics as usual.

• Another prominent Christian conservative leader, Mark DeMoss, put it another way when he wrote movement activists this week in support of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
• “If I believed similar theology was paramount in a president, I would be writing this memo urging support of Mike Huckabee,” DeMoss wrote.

This is the most hypocritical statement I have heard in a long time. Ever since George H.W. Bush was running for re-election in '92 all I heard was "family values, Christian values." Now, am I being told these things don't matter?

• “But the reason I’m with Mitt Romney and not other guys whose values and theology square with mine is not because they’re not electable; it’s because I believe Romney’s life experience and expertise makes him more qualified to be president.”

What more life experience does Romney have that Huckabee doesn't?

Here is some good news;

• Saltsman said his candidate and his campaign have responded to the cold shoulder by working around national conservatives who don’t give Huckabee much of a chance.
• “In Iowa and South Carolina, especially, we’re starting to get some of the grass-roots evangelicals,” Saltsman said.
• “Some of these folks scratch their head, saying, ‘We’ve got a great candidate right here,’” Saltsman said of their state and local Christian backers, predicting hopefully that the state leaders “pull the national ones along whether they like it or not.”
• Thanks to support from social conservatives — and especially the network of home-schooling families — there are signs, at least in Iowa, that Saltsman is right.
• Huckabee came in a surprise second place in the Ames Straw Poll in August, and a recent Des Moines Register poll had him in third place, with 12 percent, behind both Romney and former Sen. Fred Thompson. Of the one-quarter of those sampled who said they had made up their minds about who they will support at the caucuses, Huckabee had the firmest backing.

Let's not forget that he has been doing this with about 1/10th the money of that his competitors have on hand. Let's not forget that Romney had to pay people to vote for him at the Straw Poll; tickets, buses, rooming and food.

• But even as they work the pulpits and pews of the Hawkeye State, Team Huckabee remains weighed down by questions of electability. He didn’t help himself by raising a paltry $1 million in the third quarter of the year.
• Indeed, his fundraising performance raised serious questions over how Huckabee could be competitive in the face of a jam-packed primary calendar in January and February — regardless of how he does in Iowa. Those later contests occur in bigger states that are less conducive to his brand of retail campaigning.

Why does fundraising have anything to do with electability? This is the part of politics that almost puts a tear in my eye. When I was in high school I was told that anyone can make a difference. I guess I was told wrong. I guess only rich people can make a difference, dahhlings. I and many supporters of Mike Huckabee may not have lots of money, but what we lack in money, we gain in spirit.

I understand that a campaign does need money to be able to pay for all the things that go into campaigning. But when "pundits" analyze who has the most money like it's the be all to end all, people fall for this. No one wants to look at the ideas and values. Money does not equal ideas and values.

To read the full article, click here.

In conclusion, I want to support someone who will make this a better country, by considering all Americans, not just their country club buddies. I want someone who does not have fancy image consultants telling him or her how to act. I want someone who does not practice for a debate 2 weeks in advance. What we need is someone who is themselve. Someone who knows the struggles of the American people. That someone is Mike Huckabee.