"As of this writing, and according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls, Mitt Romney is leading here in Iowa with 27.2%, followed by Giuliani with 14.5%, Fred Thompson at 12.3%, McCain at 8.7%, and Huckabee at 5%. While those are interesting numbers, they don’t tell the whole story.
Mike Huckabee is clearly a man on the rise here in Iowa. According to Zogby, he has risen 6% since May of 2007. This “bump” is mainly because of his surprising performance in the Iowa Straw Poll earlier this month. I interviewed Governor Huckabee a week prior to the Straw Poll, and I can tell you that he had the crowd eating out of his hand…including me. He’s funny when he wants to be, he’s smart and articulate, and he certainly is promoting the conservative message, if that’s what you like. He’s very engaging one-on-one, too, as I found out during the interview.
Now, I mention all those traits because, to Iowans, that’s important. We want to be able to get up close and personal to talk with the candidates, engage them in discussion, and pick their brains, so to speak. Huckabee’s campaign provided the perfect chance for people to do just that, and that’s the major reason, I’d have to say, for his second-place finish at the Straw Poll. We don’t get that close-up to the likes of Rudy or Mitt, I can tell you that.
Now, there were certainly other reasons why Huckabee did well in the Straw Poll. There are some that say he only did well because he had help from the Fair Tax people. That’s certainly possible, but I’d have to say that if anything, he simply leveled the playing field. I needn’t remind anyone that Huckabee didn’t have the money to hire buses and pay for a boat-load of Straw Poll tickets, as other candidates did. You can downplay his finish all you want, but I think it demonstrates a man who is building momentum. Will he win the Caucuses? It’s hard to say, but I’d have to say no. Still, a lot can happen between now and January, and Huckabee has shown he can organize, so don’t count him out."
1 comment:
Larry,
Hi I got your message. I'll remain vague here as I can't remember if you moderate or not. I was disappointed but not surprised to hear that this person's behavior continues to be as it is. I never took any of that too personally as I knew that I was only one target of many and many too come, and the reason I was a target was because I was willing to stand up for another target. I always hate it when others watch while somebody slams another person, so when I became the new target, I was pretty much obliged! Now it's dead in the water as far as I go, but this is the saddest individual I've come across in a long while. I sincerely feel for him. Yet, I always hold out hope for people. You never know, he might wake up one day! On another note, I'm always looking to learn something new, so can you educate me on Phyllis Schafly? I'm not familiar with her except from wikipedia. P.S. I was around in the seventies. Haha!
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