Yepsen: Huckabee shows he belongs in top tier

In this here article, David Yepsen of the Des Moines Register says the three winners of last nite's debate were Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson and John McCain. I have been reading lotsa reviews of the debate. As someone who has been supporting Mike Huckabee since a month before the first debate, this is the one debate I am kicking myself over missing. If you are like me and missed it for some reason or another, check out the reviews or keep coming back to this blog and I will keep you updated with reviews. I thought I would give ya a little bit about Mr. Yepsen had to say, in regards to Mike Huckabee.

• There were three clear winners in Wednesday's debate among the Republican presidential candidates: John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson.
• All of them helped their candidacies, and they should move up in the polls as a result.
• The rest of the field, especially Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, didn't have such a good night. The Romney-Giuliani tiff with each other over sanctuary cities at the beginning of the evening diminished them both because it didn't look very presidential.
• Romney especially never seemed to recover his poise and fell back on unresponsive or canned answers the rest of the evening. He's already seen Huckabee catch him in polls of Iowa Republicans. After Wednesday night, don't be surprised if Huckabee starts opening more of a lead in Iowa.
• Huckabee has come out of single digits to play in the big leagues of this campaign, and his good-natured performance Wednesday shows he can swing an oratorical bat with the best of them.
• While other candidates fumbled around when dealing with biblical questions, Huckabee's background as a Baptist minister came in handy when he said that there are some things in the Bible no one can understand, so it's more important to follow the things that are understandable.
• Huckabee also fended off an attack from Romney over Huckabee's plan to provide in-state tuition for children of undocumented workers in Arkansas.
• Huckabee shot back that he worked his way through school and that the nation shouldn't punish children for what their parents did. "We're a better country than that," he said.

• Later, when one questioner asked what Jesus would do about the death penalty, Huckabee said, "Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office, that's what Jesus would do."

Oh, now I just love that one. Too true.

• When Giuliani was asked about whether he believed every word in the Bible, Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, good-naturedly asked him, "Do I need to help you out?"

LOL!
To read more about what Mr. Yepsen had to say about the other candidates and why he thinks Fred and John also did a great job, click here. I have to be honest with y'all. Of course Mike Huckabee is the dude that I support. But here is where I have to be honest. Some people say that regardless of who is the Republican nominee they will support them. Some people say that if Mike Huckabee ain't the nominee they won't support any Republican. Then there are others such as myself who say it depends.
If the nominee is John McCain. Yes. If it is Fred. Yes, only if he "wakes up." He just needs some coffee. If it is Rudy Giuliani. Probably not. If it is Mitt Romney. Hell no.