New Yorkers for Huckabee

Huckabee to announce exploratory committee?

2011-05-13T18:56:00.000-04:00

Top 3 reasons why I believe Huckabee will announce tomorrow an exploratory committee | Values Voter News

Politico Poll Has Huckabee On Top

2010-09-27T16:54:00.002-04:00

The latest Politico/George Washington University Battleground poll is out, and it's good news for Governor Huckabee — who beats out all the other potential GOP candidates:

Favorable (Strongly and Somewhat)

1. Mike Huckabee (49 percent)
2. Mitt Romney (45 percent)
3. Sarah Palin (44 percent)
4. Newt Gingrich (39 percent)

Strongly Favorable

1. Mike Huckabee (23 percent)
2. Sarah Palin (22 percent)
3. Newt Gingrich (17 percent)
4. Mitt Romney (16 percent)

Unfavorable (Strongly and Somewhat)

1. Mike Huckabee (25 percent)
2. Mitt Romney (28 percent)
3. Newt Gingrich (39 percent)
4. Sarah Palin (49 percent)

Strongly Unfavorable

1. Mike Huckabee (14 percent)
2. Mitt Romney (15 percent)
3. Newt Gingrich (29 percent)
4. Sarah Palin (39 percent)

Analysis: While poll watchers rightly point out that both Huckabee and Romney do well (Gingrich and Palin, not so much), Huckabee is the clear winner. Particularly, his strong favorables are over 25 percent higher than Romney's, who comes in 4th — another indication that Romney's support is shallow compared to the rest of the field.

(from I Vote Huckabee )

Huckabee now tops Obama

2010-09-18T10:31:00.001-04:00

The latest Public Policy Polling monthly poll has Mike Huckabee defeating President Obama 47-42, and other potential GOP candidates trailing the President:

Mike Huckabee is the only possible GOP contender polling ahead of Obama this month, at 47/44. Going from arguably most pleasant to most angry across the spectrum of leading Republicans you then have Obama ahead of Mitt Romney 46-43, Newt Gingrich 47-43, Sarah Palin 49-43, and Glenn Beck 48-39.

Huckabee is the only candidate we polled this month to post positive favorability numbers, at 35/32. That's because he's relatively inoffensive to Democrats with only 44% having an unfavorable opinion of him. Mitt Romney's favorability numbers are only slightly negative at 33/35. The rest of the GOP folks are highly unpopular with Beck's favorability at 31/41, Palin's at 38/52, and Gingrich's at 30/50.

Among the possible GOP candidates, Huckabee has for a long time consistently fared best against Obama.

Duggars give Huckabee a nod!

2010-08-20T18:11:00.001-04:00

Today's proxy battles bode well for Mike in 2012!

2010-08-11T00:03:00.003-04:00

Today's primary elections in some key states gave some hints about how the electorate will vote this November and beyond. In the Colorado Democrat US Senate primary, the decisive victory for appointed incumbent Michael Bennet over challenger Andrew Romanoff (54 - 46%) will be widely viewed as a victory for Pres. Obama over Bill Clinton, who had endorsed the incumbent and the challenger, respectively. I think Bennet, however, will be crushed by the winner of the GOP primary race, Tea Party favorite and solid conservative Ken Buck, who edged out John McCain's favorite, Jane Norton (51 - 48%). In my view, this bodes well for a more conservative GOP contingent--hopefully the majority--in the next US Senate. As Norton told the Denver Post after her defeat: "This election is more than Ken Buck or Jane Norton," she said. "This election is about America and our future. We are losing our country and it is our job to take it back." Right you are, Jane, and I sure hope you will work just as hard to elect Ken Buck in November, to stop Obama's hand picked Senator Bennet from keeping his unearned seat.

So where does Mike fit in? Well, there is the matter of the Georgia Governor's race. In that GOP primary, it looks like Mike's pick--Nathan Deal--has edged out Sarah Palin's favorite, Karen Handel, by about 2,500 votes (50.2 - 49.8%). I suspect that I'm like most of Mike's supporters: I love Mike and I love Sarah, and in the back of my mind I worry about the prospect of the two of them splitting the vote in the 2012 primaries. Of course neither has declared his or her candidacy at this point, but assuming they both do eventually, I'd rather see Mike and Sarah finish 1,2. The way I see it, all you need to do is the math: Mike is 8 years older than Sarah, and he has 8 years more experience as a state governor. Let's see: 8 years of Pres. Huckabee and Vice. Pres. Palin; then 8 years of Pres. Palin. I could live with that!

Huckabee on the Prop 8 Ruling

2010-08-10T17:14:00.003-04:00

Without exception - regardless of political ideology, judges should never legislate from the bench. Marriage has always been defined as being between one man and one woman. In fact, state after state has voted to uphold the definition of marriage whenever the question has been placed on the ballot - but for some reason activist judges keep trying to redefine it.

Today's ruling tramples on the will of the people and sadly, it seems judicial activists are determined to advance their personal radical agenda. That's why I believe it's time for a federal constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. That is the only action that will truly protect marriage.

Posted at Huckpac

Huckabee shines in recent polls

2010-04-15T18:41:00.002-04:00

In a CNN Poll, Mike Huckabee is the top choice among potential Republican Presidential candidates:

Huckabee 24%
Romney 20%
Palin 15%
Gingrich 14%
Paul 8%
Santorum 3%
Pawlenty 2%
Pence 2%
Barbour 1%

The poll was based on interviews with 1,008 adult Americans, including 907 registered voters, conducted by telephone by Opinion Research Corporation on April 9-11, 2010. The margin of sampling error for results based on the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points and for registered voters is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Meanwhile, In the monthly Public Policy Polling, Huckabee edges President Obama in head-to-head match up 47-45.

Mitt Romney also beats the President, 45-44.

Newt Gingrich ties President Obama at 45-45, and Sarah Palin just barely trails him 47-45.

All four of the potential GOP candidates are basically tied with the President, but Huckabee does the best.

Also of interest: Huckabee is apparently setting up residence in Florida. That might give him a heads up in the primary in 2012 in that key state. If Marco Rubio, whom Huckabee is backing, wins the Senate race there, it will also increase Huckabee's chances in Florida - and among Hispanic voters.

New Poll: Huckabee trails Obama by just 1 point

2009-12-11T16:47:00.002-05:00

The latest poll by Public Policy Polling shows that Gov. Mike Huckabee is once again the strongest Republican contender in a race with President Obama -and trails the President by just one point.

The poll - which reflects public opinion AFTER the Clemmons controversy broke - shows that if a vote were held today, Obama would get 46% of the vote, and Huckabee 45%.

Thus it looks as if the Clemmons issue has not adversely affected Huckabee's standing. Indeed, he has edged closer to the President despite it.

Of the other Republicans matched head-to-head against the President in the poll, the results are:

Obama: 47 Romney: 42
Obama: 50 Palin: 44
Obama: 48 Pawlenty: 35

In the previous poll (released in November), Huckabee had trailed Obama 49-44. His support went up one point, while Obama's dropped three in the past month.

Among independents, the new poll shows Huckabee trails Obama 49-41 - the best showing of the GOP hopefuls.

Huckabee addresses the Clemmons Case

2009-12-01T20:59:00.001-05:00

Mike Huckabee: I Take Full Responsibility

The nation was stunned by the senseless and savage cold-blooded murders of 4 young police officers in Lakewood, Washington. Whenever a police officer or soldier is killed, I feel the loss is even more profound for they are the ones who stand between our freedom and anarchy.

At the time I write these words, police are still searching for Maurice Clemmons who is believed to be the one committing these unspeakable acts. Nine years ago, that name crossed my desk. I commuted his sentence from 108 years to 47 years. Many news reports, talk show hosts, and bloggers have erroneously said that he was granted a “pardon.” Others speak of me “setting him free.” As one who now hosts a talk show and who does daily radio commentaries, I can attest to how easy commentary is compared to actually governing. I am not seeking to justify or defend my actions of nine years ago, but it’s important that I answer for my actions and give some explanation as to how and why his sentence was commuted.

I take full responsibility for my actions of nine years ago. I acted on the facts presented to me in 2000. If I could have possibly known what Clemmons would do nine years later, I obviously would have made a different decision. But if the same file was presented to me today, I would have likely made the same decision.

Each state is different, but in Arkansas, a governor doesn’t initiate a parole—the Post Prison Transfer Board does after it conducts a thorough review of an inmate’s file and request. The board then makes a recommendation to the governor, who decides to grant or deny.

If the decision is made to grant any form of clemency (the broad term for a commutation or a full pardon), the governor gives notice of intent and the file is sent to the prosecutor, judge, law enforcement officials, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State as well as to the news media. A period of 30 days is then started for there to be public input as well as response from the above named officials. At the end of the public response period, the final decision is rendered.

Between 1,000 and 1,200 requests for some form of clemency came to my desk each and every one of the 10 ½ years I was governor. Ninety-two percent of the time, I denied the requests. When I did grant them, it was usually based on the recommendation of at least five of the members of the PPTB, with consideration given to the input from public officials.

Maurice Clemmons was 16 years old when he was charged with burglary and robbery. He was sentenced to a total of 108 years based on the way in which the sentences were stacked. For the crimes he committed and the age at which he committed the crimes, it was dramatically outside the norm for sentencing. The PPTB recommended in 2000 by a 5-0 vote for his sentence to be commuted.

He had served 11 years of his sentence. A pardon would have set him free and cleared his record. A commutation to “time served” would have set him free and released him from any parole reporting. As per the recommendation, I commuted his sentence to the term of 47 years, still a long sentence for the type of crime he had committed, but it would make him parole eligible. It would not parole him, as governors do not have that power in Arkansas. He would have to separately apply for parole and meet the criteria for that.

Despite news reports to the contrary, the only record of public response to the notice to commute was from the trial judge, who recommended the commendation in concert with the board. There were letters of support, but no record of letters of opposition.

Following the commutation, he met the criteria for parole and was paroled to supervision in late 2000. When he violated terms of his parole by participating in additional crimes, he was returned to prison and should have stayed there. For reasons only the prosecutor can explain, charges were not brought forth in a timely way and the prosecutor ended up dropping the charges, allowing him to leave prison and return to supervised parole.

He moved to Washington state and had intermittent criminal activity that increased in violence and frequency. He was allowed to post bail in Washington state and while on bail from there committed the unspeakable acts of murdering four valiant police officers. I can’t explain why he wasn’t prosecuted properly for the parole violations or why he was allowed to make bail in Washington state and not incarcerated earlier for crimes committed there.

I wish his file had never crossed my desk, but it did. The decision I made is one that I now wish were different, but I could only look backwards at his case, not forward. None of this is of any comfort to the families of these police officers nor should it be. Their loss is senseless. No words or deeds by anyone will bring them back to their loved ones. Our system is not perfect and neither are those responsible for administering it.

The system and those of us who are supposed to make sure it works sometimes fail. In this case, we clearly did.

Huckabee and the Clemmons case

2009-11-30T18:09:00.001-05:00

This explains the issue so well:

This post is the personal opinion by HucksArmy Director David Schmidt.

Let me first start by saying that the killing of the four police officers in the state of Washington was a revolting and horrific act. Our deepest thoughts and prayers are with all those who are grieving and we trust that justice will be swift and strong.

The following are the details connecting Clemmons and Huckabee:

Maurice Clemmons is wanted for questioning by police in connection to the killing of four officers in Lakeland, Washington

Maurice Clemmons was sentences to a 108 year prison term for his actions in 3 incidents as a 16 year old youth. These actions appear to be the:

Robbery of cell phone and house appliances from unoccupied house
Robbery of purse off of a women without the use of a weapon
Possession of a firearm

Huckabee On May 3, 2000, Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted (lessened) Clemmons’ 108 year sentence to 47 years, 5 months and 19 days, which made him eligible for parole that day.

The Parole Board granted his parole July 13, 2000.

He was released Aug. 1, 2000.

In light of what appears to be Clemmons killing of 4 officers, would anybody want this guy to ever be free to do that? No.

Is it excessive to sentence a person to a 108 year sentence for 3 serious but non-violent crimes as a 16-year -old youth? I think so. You may disagree.

Did Huckabee know that Clemmons was going to apparently kill four police officers 9 years after his parole from prison? No.

The question in regards to Huckabee is whether he showed negligent judgment in commuting the sentence of Clemmons.

It is my opinion that Huckabee did not show a serious lack of judgment for allowing Clemmons to be eligible for parole after serving for 11 years. When considering that the crimes were non-violent and committed at the age of 16, I don’t believe that it is unreasonable to allow a person to be eligible for parole after serving 11 years.

We can’t blame Huckabee for a decision that he made without knowledge of future crimes although we can blame him for poor judgment based on what he already knew. Based on that, I think his judgment was well within the bounds of reason. You may differ in your opinion and you are welcome to do that.

Download official Arkansas court and clemency documents behind this post at:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2009/11/30/2010388798.pdf

DISCLOSURE: I like Huckabee. I have met him a few times and have found him warm and consistent. I also am a leader of a grassroots group called HucksArmy that supported Huckabee in 2008 and helps advocate for conservatives and common-sense government. While this association may make you think that I only want to defend Huckabee because I like him, I encourage you to make your judgement based on the soundness of this post and not who I am.

Thanksgiving message from Huckabee

2009-11-27T06:42:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is a special day for our nation. It is a day to give thanks for the bounty we have been so blessed to receive. It is also a day to give thanks and offer prayers for our military. As I sit down to enjoy Thanksgiving with family and friends, I find myself thinking of all the things we have to be thankful for.

I give thanks that I am an American, free to live and worship as I choose, free to speak my mind on important issues and free to travel where I choose when I choose. We truly are a land of plenty. Our nation and our people have been blessed with a standard of living unprecedented in the history of mankind.

Although we recognize that these are challenging times, and that millions of Americans are suffering from unemployment, let us gather together on this special day, enjoy our families and friends and say a special prayer for our country and its people. May we remain the land of freedom.

Huckabee on Palin and his Own Pro-life Views

2009-11-19T18:10:00.002-05:00

Some folks have tried to balme Mike's supporters for a hit piece put out on Palin and her pro-life views. This clip makes it clear how he feels about her.

Superficial reporting?

2009-11-15T12:23:00.003-05:00

Our local newspaper ran a syndicated story from the Associated Press by Liz Sidoti ("GOP hopefuls begin jockeying for 2012").

Who are mentioned in the lead? Palin, Pawlenty and Romney. Huckabee is buried deep in the article along with the "others."

I posted the following on the newspaper's forum:

I read the AP story in the 11/15 issue ("GOP hopefuls begin jockeying for 2012") with interest - and then disappointment.

The article seems prompted by Palin's book tour and the media attention she is getting - which is fine. I like Palin.

But then as the writer analyzes the Republican hopefuls, she sticks Mike Huckabee at the tail end as an afterthought.

Huckabee currently leads in all the recent GOP polls. He is also is out on a book tour of his own with a bestseller, and has the highest rated cable show on weekends. His radio commentaries are carried on hundreds of stations. Why is he stuck at the end? Did someone not do her research?

At the moment, the polls show Huckabee, Palin and Romney are the leading contenders for the GOP nomination. A fair article should reflect that.

Smart move by Huckabee (NY 23)

2009-11-13T17:35:00.002-05:00

A few weeks back, Huckabee took some heat for not getting involved in a Congressional race here in New York.

Post election, he looks like he showed good judgement.

Republican conservatives and moderates were caught up in a battle over New York’s 23rd Congressional district. The GOP endorsed candidate, Dede Scozzafava, was pro-abortion and pro gay rights. She was battling the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens, and a Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman, whose views fit in better with Huckabee's on these and other issues.

But despite calls to endorse Hoffman - as did Sarah Palin, and eventually, Tim Pawlenty - Huckabee declined. (So did Mitt Romney.)

Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich endorsed Scozzafava.

Huckabee was reluctant to endorse outside the Party. His policy has been to push conservatives to primary fellow Republicans, not to run in the general election again them (Rubio vs. Crist down in Florida, for example). But he also could not openly support a Republican whose views so differed from his own.

Just before the election, Scozzafava dropped out and endorsed the Democratic candidate. Egg on the face of Gingrich.

Then the Democratic candidate bested Hoffman - giving a normally safe Republican seat to the the Democrats.

That won't make Palin look good - though at least she came in early and was consistent. Pawlenty looked like he was being opportunistic, so that won't help him either, especially since the Republicans lost what had been a safe seat.

In the end, Huckabee showed good political sense without compromising his beliefs - and he did not antagonize GOP leaders. Even if they are not enthusiastic about him, he will seem less of a threat than Palin.

And if it comes down to Romney and Huckabee, at least some of the Romney-leaning leadership will have an easier time backing Huckabee when he wins the nomination.

On Huckabee: Former PP director turns pro-life

2009-11-11T10:13:00.002-05:00

This clip of Abby Johnson, the Planned Parenthood director who quit and became pro-life after watching an ultrasound of an abortion has been getting wide play. It can only help to cement Huckabee's credentials among pro-lifers.

Huckabee tops latest Rasmussen poll

2009-10-18T06:18:00.003-04:00

Governor Mike Huckabee continues to built a lead among Republicans. The latest sign of that is a Rasmussen poll dated October 16:

Huckabee 29%
Romney 24%
Palin 18%
Gingrich 14%
Pawlenty 4%

The accompanying article mentions, "These numbers reflect an improvement for Huckabee since July when the three candidates were virtually even. Huckabee’s gain appears to be Palin’s loss as Romney’s support has barely changed."

The article also notes - "Romney leads all prospects among voters who attend church once a month or less. Huckabee leads among more frequent churchgoers. Huckabee holds a huge lead among Evangelical Christians with Palin in second and Romney a distant third. Huckabee and Romney are essentially even among other Protestants while Romney has the edge among Catholics."

We have to work on that Catholic part.

Value Voters Favor Huckabee

2009-09-20T11:19:00.003-04:00

Among the contenders for the GOP Presidential nomination, Mike Huckabee is the clear front runner among Value Voters.

At the Values Voter Summit in Washington this weekend, Huckabee easily won the Presidential straw poll taken Saturday with nearly 29 percent of the vote - getting more than double the support of any other candidate, and, in fact, besting any two other candidates combined!'

Romney, Pawlenty, Palin and Pence each won roughly 12 percent of the 597 votes cast.

It's a long way to 2012, but if he can sew up the conservative and religious base, he can then reach out to broaden his appeal to independents and moderates.

Romney reveals what he believes?

2009-07-29T15:33:00.003-04:00

Romney's true beliefs? Or just what he thinks the audience believes or wants to hear?

New Poll: Huckabee on top

2009-07-25T13:27:00.002-04:00

The results of a Washington Post poll:

27. (ASKED OF REPUBLICANS AND GOP-LEANING INDEPENDENTS) If the 2012 Republican presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, and the candidates were (READ LIST) for whom would you vote?

Mike Huckabee 26%
Mitt Romney 21%
Sarah Palin 19%
Newt Gingrich 10%
Tim Pawlenty 4%
Jeb Bush 3%
Haley Barbour 1%
Bobby Jindal (vol.) 2%
Charlie Crist (vol.) *

It's only 2009, but Huckabee is slowly beginning to edge ahead in some polls. A recent Public Policy Polling poll also had him closer than any other Republican to Obama in a head-to-head race, trailing 48-42. Last month he trailed by seven points.

I Have a Nightmare

2009-02-19T20:06:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, our new Attorney General made a public speech commemorating African-American History Month. Among other notable statements, Holder called this country “a nation of cowards”, because “we, average Americans” fail to discuss and work out “unresolved racial issues”.

My first reaction to Holder's comments was that Obama's election is living proof that he is right, i.e., that the nation would rather elect the left-most US Senator (from the corrupt Chicago political machine, no less) to the Presidency just because he is black, in order to pretend it had gotten beyond the race issue, than to confront it. (This is the meaning of the satire, "Barack, the Magic Negro", based on an idea expressed by an African-American LA Times reporter.)

But the more I read Holder's statements, the more troubled I get. Specifically, Holder acknowledged that America has done “a pretty good job of melding the races in the workplace”, but then decried the largely segregated lives that black and white Americans continue to lead “(O)n Saturdays and Sundays.”

So, what’s the DOJ got to do with what Americans do in their spare time, you ask? “Through its work and through its example, this Department of Justice, as long as I am here, must—and will—lead the nation to the ‘new birth of freedom’ so long ago promised by our greatest President (Lincoln).”, continued Holder.

Forgive me if I’m mistaken, but I just don’t seem to remember that Lincoln ever tried or suggested using the US Department of Justice “through its work”, to enforce any sort of social agenda for the private lives of Americans.

But it sounds like our new Attorney General intends for the DOJ to get into the business of criminalizing non-integrated church-going and socializing. Outside of the fact that this seems to portend an Orwellian nightmare of government intrusion into citizens' private lives, it is also ironic in that it has been the liberals all along who have hijacked the civil rights movement and consistently sought to divide the nation racially, fighting the noble "I have a dream"-type dream of an integrated society every step of the way.

In truth, of course, there is only one human race; racism belonging on that scrap heap of fictitious ideas that have wreaked such havoc with modern society, right along with man-made global warming, Keynesian economics and "safe abortion”.

Stand your ground, Chip!

2009-01-01T23:07:00.002-05:00

It might seem that there's already too much being made of the flap over our good friend, Chip Saltsman's including Paul Shanklin's "Barack, the magic Negro" parody in a Christmas gift CD to fellow Republicans. But I'm jumping in here for the simple reason that every published quote I can find on this one misses the point.

Let's just look at the reactions in the mix: First, we have the Democrat opposition types already pulling their "R word" trigger, with RNC Chair Mike Duncan, fellow RNC Chair candidate Saul Anuzis, ND party chair Gary Emineth and no less prominent a figure than Newt Gingrich piling on and suggesting that this episode should end Chip's bid to succeed Duncan as national Party Chairman.

Then we have some real stand-up guys like fellow RNC Chair candidate Ken Blackwell supporting Chip and chiding other RNC members for dissing him. Blackwell said: "When looked at in the proper context, these concerns (about Chip's sending the parody around) are minimal." Said OK committeewoman Carolyn McClarty: “I don’t think he intended it as any kind of racial slur. I think he intended it as a humor gift,” adding “I think it was innocently done by Chip.”

So what's missing here, you ask? I would suggest a little perspective is missing. There's no question that a good perspective has to take into account that there is still a tremendous race-counsciousness and racism in America. So in fact, one really can't put out a parody about a "magic Negro" without provoking that 800-pound gorilla.

But here's the problem, as I see it: The Democrats want us all to pet the gorilla and keep him fat and happy and full of bananas. And those in the GOP who are afraid of them and their media sponsors want us to go along and do just that. That's what poor ol' Senator Trent Lott did, and the gorilla sat on him!

I would suggest that thoughtful Americans--certainly thoughtful Republicans--want to get rid of that gorilla called American racism. And how best to do that than with a great parody that pokes fun at racists and race-baiters like Al Sharpton? That's what Shanklin's parody of Sharpton does so brilliantly in "Barack, the Magic Negro". I remember when my old college friend Dwight Raiford organized the re-institution of the Harlem Little League baseball team some years ago. I was hoping he might call the team the "Harlem Whiteskins", as a way to do the same thing: make a mockery of racism.

So hang in there, Chip. And thank you for being unafraid to help us all laugh at America's foibles. Feeding the gorilla will only make it grow. But laughing at it ultimately might just make it go away.

Message from Mike

2008-11-05T17:10:00.000-05:00

November 04, 2008 - 11:40 PM
We Will Be Back In Strength
by Mike Huckabee

I'm very proud to have supported Senator McCain and the only regret is that more Americans didn't share my conviction that he would have made an outstanding President. I not only recognize, but respect that we are a nation in which the people choose and tonight they have chosen Senator Obama. He was not my choice, but he will be my President and I will pray for him to lead this great nation with God's help and grace. He will face serious challenges to lead our country and he will need all Americans to give him a chance.

The campaign is over and now is the time for governing and leading. The Republican Party must now reassess where it is and where it is going. Our problem is not that our views aren't acceptable, it is that many in our party have abandoned the very principles that once drew Americans to trust us. Our party will be back with strength, but tonight we should all celebrate the historic nature of this election and put our country ahead of our party.

As disappointed as I am that we have lost the election, I can't help but feel that many courageous leaders of the civil rights movement look down from heaven tonight with a smile that the day has come when a man is elected without regard to his color. I salute President-elect Obama for his discipline and tenacity that has given our country the opportunity to witness this significant event.

Politics is not an event but a process. We sometimes lose the events but it never gives us the right to stop being faithful to our principles that enlisted us in the process. We shall live to fight another day.

Permalink: http://www.huckpac.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=1978

2012

2008-11-05T17:05:00.002-05:00

Okay, that's over. President Obama.

Now, let's start building for 2012.

Mike is not getting enough mention in the media or polls. Romney is the "leader" at this point, with Palin - whom I like - getting some support.

We need to get the word out.

McCain/Palin

2008-08-30T09:35:00.002-04:00

I am disappointed that McCain did not pick Mike for VP - but I hadn't expected it given the indications over the last few months.

That said, Governor Sarah Palin is a more than acceptable alternative choice.

Let's get behind this ticket. Maybe we will see Mike in the Cabinet next year!

Primary Day nears

2008-02-02T14:51:00.001-05:00

Time to get busy! Just three days left. Get the word out. In Rochester, we're one of the few campaigns making any kind of noise.

CNN Debate: Romney Reveals Big Business Bias

2008-01-31T16:51:00.000-05:00

Governor Mitt Romney, who has only recently been touting his support of the Second Amendment, is obviously not too experienced in the use of firearms. Am I the only one who noticed him pull that big fat gun out of his pocket and shoot himself in the foot last night?

He was, in fact, being asked a question about his record in Massachusetts re: taxes. Specifically, he was asked to defend his raising fees by hundreds of millions of dollars; to explain why those did not constitute tax increases. To defend his record, he gave as an example increasing the fee for McDonald’s to put a sign on the Massachusetts Turnpike to advertise their restaurant from $200 to $2,000.

Well, that’s just fine and dandy, if you’re a big multi-national corporation like McDonald’s. But what if you’re just a Mom & Pop family restaurant struggling to compete with places like McDonald’s? Forget it, Mom & Pop, says Governor Romney, you have to pay the 900% fee increase! Thus does Romney reveal that he cares about Wall Street, but not Main Street. And I’ll just bet that there were plenty of Moms and Pops out there in TVland who got his message, loud and clear.

Leave it to Mike Huckabee to define the divide between two different strains of economic conservatism with the Wall Street v. Main Street distinction. But since so many people—including Rush Limbaugh—seem not to get it, I’ll expound on it a bit more here. Because Mike Huckabee has the audacity to talk about the proverbial little guy and to criticize genuine examples of corporate greed, conservatives like Limbaugh conclude that Huckabee is a liberal and opposed to business; i.e., he can’t be a real economic conservative. They need to listen a little better to what Mike Huckabee has to say.

What liberal Democrats do is complain that the little guy is being crushed by the interests of big business. Hence, they justify greater taxation, regulation and litigation. And of course, that punishes all businesses, large and small, and drags the whole economy down.

On the other hand, Gov. Huckabee complains that small business is being crushed by excessive government taxation, regulation and litigation, and that this needs to be reversed (and the implementation of the Fair Tax would do it in one fell swoop). But big business can safeguard its profits against big government by outsourcing jobs and moving its capital offshore. This has the same ultimate effect of dragging down the national economy, and with it, ultimately, our national security. This process is, however, more insidious because, at least in the short run, profits—and therefore, tax revenues—keep rolling in, even as whole industries keep moving out overseas.

Mike Huckabee understands that most of America’s industry and most of its jobs are generated by small business—not big business. And just as importantly, he understands that what is good for small business is good for all business, big and small.

Unfortunately, Mitt Romney just doesn’t get it. He obviously believes that if we take care of big business, small business will benefit also. That ain’t necessarily so, as I have pointed out above.

Now how does this all play out in the political calculus of the current presidential election? Hmmm, it seems to me that there are plenty of billionaire industrialists (Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, George Soros come to mind) who are eager to throw in their fortunes with liberal Democrats like Hillary. Ever wonder why that is?

My point here is that if you want a President in the White House who will just take care of big business, you don’t need a fiscal conservative of Romney’s stripe or even a Republican. Hillary will do just fine.

But if you want a President in the White House who is a real conservative—fiscal and otherwise—you need to help elect Mike Huckabee!

(And as for all you guys who want to post, on this blog site, pleas for Mike to withdraw from the race because he’s hurting Mitt Romney’s chances, you can forget that. And if you’ve taken the time to read this post all the way through, now you also know one reason why.)

A Conservative's Conservative Speaks About the GOP Candidates

2008-01-21T17:56:00.000-05:00

Amid charges and counter charges about who's the real conservative, John McCain has been severely and appropriately challenged, for everything from his opposition to the Bush tax cuts to McCain-Feingold. But the conservative talking heads--from Anne Coulter to Rush Limbaugh to Rich Lowry--have, with few exceptions like Michelle Malkin--been savaging Mike Huckabee for no apparent reason that this writer could find or imagine.

Today, at 5:20 pm on the Sean Hannity Show, we heard from a real conservative who's not in the race; one who's walked the walk and fought the fight for conservative principles over the years: Tom DeLay. After DeLay criticised McCain--not personally mind you, but purely on issues, and concluded that he could not support McCain's candidacy, Sean Hannity asked him if he would pick any of the others in the race. Glaringly, Hannity left out Mike Huckabee's name, as he asked DeLay what he thought about Romney, Thompson and Giuliani. Making it clear that he had no clear favorite at this point--not having to make up his mind until the March primary election in Texas--DeLay said that Thompson had "walked the conservative walk", Romney has "talked the conservative talk", and Giuliani, although he has "problems with him on social issues, I (he) could still support him against Hillary Clinton."

Then Tom DeLay volunteered: "And frankly, Huckabee. I have no problem with Huckabee."
A genuine conservative--Tom Delay--knows a genuine conservative--Mike Huckabee when he sees one. Hallelelujah! If Mike Huckabee could be the magnificently successful governor of a state for over ten years--vastly improving roads, schools, cutting taxes and leaving the debt-ridden state of Arkansas with almost a billion dollar surplus--a state controlled by an overwhelming Democrat majority, mind you--and still be considered, on his record, to be a conservative by a conservative's conservative like Tom Delay, that speaks volumes. Are you listening Rush? Anne? Rich? GOP voters?

Some Other Blogs of Interest

2008-01-20T10:02:00.000-05:00

The official web site (www.mikehuckabee.com) lists well over 600 blogs....actually closer to 700 blogs and counting.

I've checked out a few blogs from the campaign's official web site and would strongly recommend the Florida for Huckabee blog (http://floridaforhuckabee.blogspot.com/). They've got the inside scoop on the action in the next major contest.

Here's another blog that comes highly recommended: The Roebuck Report (http://roebuckreport.blogspot.com/2008/01/five-reasons-why-i-am-supporting-mike.html). The author is a journalist out of Arkansas and he's got some good insights into Arkansas politics and the Arkansas media outlets (especially as the national media considers them all as gospel--and we know all newspapers are not created equal).

If you find other blogs that are worth my precious blog scanning time, I'd appreciate a heads up with a comment!

Huckabee's Appeal and Media Objectivity

2008-01-20T09:31:00.000-05:00

I recommend you check out CNN's Election Center some time and bring along your salt shaker because many items require a lot more than a grain of salt! Although the election and poll number are "accurate," you do need to ask yourself, what question (s) the media is not asking in their entrance and exit polls. Bottom line, the media would like to characterize Mike as a one-note evangelical candidate.

The data suggests a broader base of support. For instance, if you shift through the South Carolina exit poll data (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#SC), you'd find out that Mike polled well among people who considered themselves very conservative (41%) and somewhat conservative (30%). Further, Mike won the Republican vote (South Carolina being an open primary) with 32% (Giuliani 2%, McCain 31%, Paul 2%, Romney 16%, and Thompson 17%) and finished second among independents (25% compared to McCain's 42%). Mike also took the lion's share of those who identified immigration as their number 1 issue (taking 33% of those voters). He tied McCain with 32% of the people who identified the economy as their top priority. Mike was also tops for people earning under $50,000 a year (two categories: $15-30,000 and $30-50,000). He was the second choice of the people in the categories of $50-75,000, $75-100,000, and $100-150,000. He was top among voters who characterized their family financial situation as being "Getting Ahead" and "Falling Behind." (Second among those saying "Holding Steady.") And finally for the 71% of the electorate which feels abortion should be illegal Mike won their support overwhelmingly!

So to generalize, Mike could be called the candidate of the average conservative/conservative leaning, Republican middle-class American, who cares about issues like immigration, the state of the economy and the right to life for the unborn. Hey, that's me and I'm Roman Catholic. Go figure!

Late Night 2: Conan's Chicken or the Egg Question

2008-01-19T10:32:00.000-05:00

Mike doesn't appear on the show, but Conan's monologues (on two separate nights) pose one of the biggest questions of the current political season:: Which came first the Colbert Bump or the Walker Texas Ranger Lever? As McLaughlin would say: The answer is Mike Huckabee and free media are forces of nature....they are two great things that go great together. Check it out if you want a good laugh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBGOtBUb2BQ&NR=1 and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNOhvKQkY74.

Late Night with Mike Huckabee

2008-01-13T20:04:00.000-05:00

Mike's been omnipresent on the late night talk show circuit from the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to David Letterman (the Dave shaves his beard episode) to the Tonight Show with Leno to the Stephen Colbert Report.

The Governor's always on point when issues come up. He's always personable, charming and disarming of his hosts. He's also always entertaining to boot.

But in case your devotion for Huck doesn't extend to staying up past 10 p.m., here are some highlights (with some links) of the night owl Gov:

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno:(In 2 parts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak77aA_TDuw&NR=1 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6M1umrjYBI)

Best quote when asked about how Bill Clinton and he both come from Hope, Arkansas and whether they knew each other. Mike explained that Clinton was nine years older than he and that Clinton's family left Hope for Hot Springs, AR when Bill was 7. Mike then quipped that Clinton only proclaimed his Hope hometown allegiance when he ran for president. Mike:
"When he (Clinton) ran for President it just didn't sound right to say "I believe in a place called Hot Springs"....you can understand that. We all can understand this!"

Mike gives a strong explanation of his Fair Tax proposal (worth watching just for this)!

Other great line: “People are looking for a presidential candidate who reminds them more of the guy they work with rather than the guy that laid them off.”

Almost 14 minutes of Mike! A great national forum for Mike and his message of hope!

Late Show with David Letterman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlyu8dO3yQk)

Discussion of Mike's early broadcasting career (Mike got an FCC license at the age of 14). Mike talks about Vertical Politics.

Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (no link)

I saw the taped show. Another strong showing by Mike, but unavailable on youtube. Although an out of context Mike remark about the U.S. Constitution is showing up on youtube. The complete context is Craig Ferguson's request for people to make him an honorary citizen and Mike's joking offer to make Craig a citizen of the U.S. Don't be surprised when Romney accuses Huckabee of being soft on illegal late night talk show immigrants!

Colbert Report (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/huckabee-on-the-colbert-report/?scp=1&sq=colbert+report)

The link is from the NY Times' The Caucus. Jodi Kantor suggests that the one cardinal rule for being on the Colbert Report is "never, ever, ever try to be the funny one." Kantor feels that Mike broke this rule. See for yourself, I know Kantor's wrong. Huckabee goes toe-to-toe with Colbert. The majority of the comments are from Democrats, Republicans and Independents who also disagree with Kantor.

Here's just one of the many funny parts:

Colbert: He (McCain) said he would hunt Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell. Would you hunt Osama Bin Laden all the way into hell?

Huckabee: And beyond. I will charge hell with a water pistol if necessary.

Mike should be able to again cash in on a "Colbert bump," especially with parting advice like this from Colbert (the running mate apparent...in his own mind): "Stay strong. Be brave. And remember stay a Huckabee not a Huckawas."

Rudy's Premature Tsunami in Florida?

2008-01-13T13:20:00.000-05:00

In a new Datamar poll for the Florida Republican presidential primary (Jan. 29), Governor Huckabee bests the field including the former Mayor of NYC Rudy Giuliani, who once had a commanding lead in Florida but now finds himself 4th in the poll.

Huckabee 23.9%
Romney 19.5%
McCain 17.9%
Giuliani 16.4%
Thompson 9.4%
Paul 4.8%
Hunter .6%
Undecided 7.5%

The Datamar poll (http://www.datamar.net/pdf/floridarepublicanPP08jan08.pdf), conducted between Januray 5-7, is further good news for Mike and bad news for Rudy. In May 2007, Mike was polling at 3.1%, while Giuliani was polling at 27%. Huckabee's numbers began to rise at about the same time in Florida that they did nationally. A 4th place finish for Mr. Giuliani would be a serious blow to his strategy of discounting Iowa and NH, while focusing on Florida and the competition on Tsunami Tuesday. What would also die in Florida is Mr. Giuliani much-touted claims of uber-electability. A Huckabee win in Florida will hopefully clarify for the political pundits that the Republican faithful are looking for a candidate that keeps faith not with any one religion, but with Republican core values--social and fiscal conservatism!

New Polls: Huckabee on top in US

2008-01-07T16:37:00.001-05:00

A new USA Today/Gallup national survey of 1,023 adults was conducted 1/4 through 1/6, and it found that among 423 Republicans and those who lean Republican the results are:

Mike Huckabee - 25%
Rudy Giuliani - 20%
John McCain - 19%
Fred Thompson - 12%
Mitt Romney - 9%.

No other Republican got more than 5 %.

Rasmussen now has Huckabe in first with 20 percent followed by

McCain - 19%
Giuliani - 17%
Romney - 15%
Thompson - 11%
Paul -3%

The uptick continues.

Talker Mike Gallagher gets Mike Huckabee Wrong

2008-01-05T19:17:00.000-05:00

In his townhall.com blog today, in a piece called “Iowa is no Florida” talk show host Mike Gallagher criticizes all the vitriolic huckicide bombers (as I call them) for trashing Mike Huckabee.

But then he totally turns Huckabee’s message upside down himself, based on Huck’s appearance the other night on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

On the show (and you can link to the YouTube video of it via mikehuckabee.com), Mike Huckabee spoke of why he got into politics, having considered being a clergyman being “in the stands”, rather than on the playing field.

Gallagher jumps all over this metaphor, attributing to Huckabee the belief that government is the solution to peoples’ problems. Gallagher actually called Huckabee a “big government liberal.”

I guess Gallagher must have turned the show off early. He must have, in order to miss the absolutely unmistakable Huckabee message that government is the problem—not the solution (like Ronald Reagan used to say).

A bit later in the show, Huckabee gave the example of a voter he had met in New Hampshire; a factory worker who had signed on for an extra shift to help his daughter through graduate school at Cornell. The voter complained that working the extra shift put him in a higher tax bracket, so that most of that extra money went to the IRS. Huckabee then suggested that the man would make out better financially by quitting both shifts—stop working altogether—so that his daughter could qualify for government assistance for graduate school. Huckabee then rightly concluded that this was “nutty”.

Next, Huckabee talked about how difficult it is now for a man starting a small business, having to worry about his biggest competitor not being a rival business, but the government!

And let’s not forget that Mike Huckabee is the only one of the top five candidates who supports the Fair Tax: That is, replacing the income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, etc, with a single consumption tax on retail sales. And because the tax would only be on what you spend—not on what you earn—the government would no longer have any business knowing what you make, from whom and for what. Now, getting rid of the IRS—part and parcel of the Fair Tax plan—is about THE most effective way of getting big government out of our lives. (And by the way, Mike Huckabee found the time in his Tonight Show appearance to talk about that, too. And what applause from the audience at the idea of eliminating the IRS!)

So here’s a question for you, Mike Gallagher: How come all those other leading GOP candidates, who all like to call themselves real fiscal conservatives, are in favor of keeping the IRS intact?

No doubt about it: Mike Huckabee is a small government, low tax conservative. Just go back and watch the whole 13-minute tonight show segment, Mike Gallagher.

And when you’ve finished that, spend another half hour and watch Mike Huckabee’s appearance on Meet the Press, where he is relentlessly grilled by Tim Russert.

Memo to GOP Huckicide bombers: Don’t commit GOPicide!

2008-01-04T22:03:00.000-05:00

This morning, I submitted to following letter to the Eagle, the online magazine of gopusa.com, an organ of the conservative wing of the GOP, in response to a vitriolic “Huckicide” piece published today in that journal by Bobby Eberle, President and CEO of gopusa. My letter also applies to the continuing stream of anti-Huckabee venom that continues to flow from the political right, even after Governor Huckabee’s decisive victory in the Iowa caucuses.

To the Editor:

How's this for a Conservative principle: "Though shalt not attack a fellow Republican."
That is often described as "Reagan's 11th Commandment". Even as your column yesterday stressed the importance of party unity, your column today totally trashes the victor in our own first electoral contest, with mudballs like "bad news for the Republican party", "socialist" and claims that the candidate who got the most GOP support in Iowa "simply does not warrant the support he has received."

Do you really think that it makes it all right, to conclude with the hope that "we will all rally around the nominee", after such vicious attacks from a voice of the party itself?

We are surely doomed if we chart such a self-destructive course. Isn't it obvious that there is great news for the GOP out of Iowa, in that turnout went from 88,000 in the last presidential election cycle up to 125,000? That's a real sign of health in the party. But articles like yours are a manifestation of suicidal ideation. Our "big tent" will surely not stand if we keep on hacking away at the tent poles.

Lessons from Iowa

2008-01-04T09:31:00.000-05:00

First, a celebratory WHOOP!

But then back to earth.

The pundits -including many of the Conservative talking heads - are already trying to dismiss Mike's Iowa victory, saying it was due to the evenagelicals, and that he wouldn't have that kind of support elsewhere. (Conveniently ignoring many states where evangelicals are strong and will play a role.)

They also go on to distort and misrepresent his record and his proposals.

Three lessons for us come out of this.

First, Mike won with a minimal "official" staff, but with plenty of grassroots workers - like us. Some of the other candidates paid people to do the work, Huckabee supporters for the most part did the work because they believed in him.

In New York, where there isn't an official campaign structure yet, the work over the next few weeks is up to us. We are the ones who have to make the phone calls, get on the call-in shows, comment in the chat rooms and blogs, write the letters, talk to friends and neighbors. Now is the time to begin.

Second, part of our efforts must be to create truth squads of our own. When we hear the distortions on issues like immigration and taxes, we need to repond immediately with the facts. We need to write letters to the editor. We need to step up.

Finally, we have to make it clear that he is more than just an evangelical and has more that just an evangelical base. We need to get the focus on his practical experience as a successfjul governor and emphasize his many proposals on a variety of issues.

Electoral map

2008-01-03T10:18:00.000-05:00

The folks over at Politics and Christianity have created the above state-by-state Repuiblican leader map http://www.politicsandchristianity.com/2008/01/republican-leader-map-1308.html

According to various polls, the site says Huckabee is currently leading in 10 states: Iowa, Montana, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Of course, some of those polls are close and even shifting. On the positive side, there are several close states Mike could pick up - especially after an Iowa win, and if Thompson drops out (as is currently rumored).

New York, as expected, is in the Giuliani list. We have to hit the ground running to get ready for February 5.

Meet the Press: Russert pitches Home Run Derby for Mike!

2007-12-31T11:26:00.000-05:00

It was a beautiful thing to watch: A full half-hour of Tim Russert—you know, the guy who scored a Hillary knock-down with one straight question during a recent debate—throwing his hardest hardballs at Mike, who just kept hitting them out of the park on the full range of issues. You can find the whole interview on you tube, via the following link: http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=1007

But the interview was especially extraordinary for pro-lifers.

It was certainly the first time in my life that I have seen or heard a genuine pro-lifer, through and through, who was actually in the running to be elected president and who has a real chance of winning; someone who gave Tim Russert the same answers one of us would have given. All the other candidates who claim to be pro-life have very nuanced and changeable prolife positions that make us wonder how much we can really trust them, so we often have to consult other people we do trust to make a tortured decision as to whether or not we can support them. With Mike Huckabee, whatever our differences on other issues, no pro-lifer could deny, seeing the Meet the Press interview, that he is the real deal on the life issues. Period.

For a brief synopsis on the pro-life segment of the Meet the Press interview, click this link to LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/nat3563.html

“Beltway Boys” dis Mike but parrot his Pakistan strategy

2007-12-29T19:37:00.000-05:00

Today on the Fox News Channel, “The Beltway Boys”, Mort Kondracke and Fred Barnes, did a segment on the state of the candidates’ standings in the Iowa Caucus polls, followed by a segment on what’s going on in Pakistan.

Largely, it would seem, on the basis of Bob Novak’s anonymous “private corporate poll” (see my previous post), they downgraded their predictions for the GOP Iowa Caucus to a Romney win, with Mike coming in second. They attributed Mike’s apparent slippage to what they view as Mike’s not handling questions re: the Bhutto assassination well, and thus seemingly not qualified for leading the free world. As I also noted in previous posts, Fox News Channel viewers would have no evidence upon which to base such a conclusion, as FNC interviewed all the major GOP candidates about it except Mike! But Mike was actually magnificent in his evaluation of the situation, if you happened to tune in to MSNBC for your “Morning Joe” yesterday.

Back to the Beltway Boys, it was Kondracke who summarized the Pakistani situation. He quoted Bhutto from a personal interview he had had with her, in which she had told him that “Musharraf was playing the US like a violin”. Kondracke then concluded that the US now needs to get tougher with Musharraf to go after the terrorists in Pakistan, or let the US do it.

Now where have we heard that before? Could it be the invisible front-runner Fox News has been avoiding lately? Indeed, the Beltway Boys’ policy conclusion re: Pakistan was almost vertabim Mike Huckabee! Contrast that with the opinion of John McCain, whom the media (including FNC) are fawning over for his “foreign policy experience”-based views on the current crisis. McCain’s strategy is basically to coddle Musharraf even more than the Bush administration has already, for fear of his losing control over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

Oooo Kaaayy, so let’s base US foreign policy on our fears, rather than our strengths. Does that sound like a good strategy for the US (or for any nation, for that matter)?

Of course, Ronald Reagan’s approach was always “peace through strength”, and it’s Mike Huckabee—not John McCain—who has a real understanding of what that means in practice. For the sake of US security and world peace, let’s make sure Governor Huckabee is our next President!

Novak’s Mystery Poll

2007-12-29T12:44:00.000-05:00

Veteran Washington insider Robert Novak has been touting—both in his townhall.com blog and on the Fox News Channel--a “private corporate interest” poll that shows Romney in the lead in Iowa, ahead of Mike Huckabee by 4 points at 30 to 26%. I find it quite interesting that in an era in which political polling has become such a competitive industry, that anyone should put any stock in a private ‘no-name’ poll leaked out to the public through a veteran reporter who could be trusted not to reveal his source.

So who is Novak’s source? More importantly, who commissioned the poll and why was it leaked out anonymously?

Conventional wisdom dictates that the first question to ask in solving this mystery is:
Who benefits?
Answer: Obviously, Mitt Romney.
Next question: What organization has the kind of financial resources to conduct such a large survey (15,000 Iowans)?
Answer: Obviously, the Romney campaign.
That leads to another key question: If the Romney campaign commissioned a legitimate poll that showed their own candidate overtaking the front-runner, why would they not shout it from the rooftops with all the credentials of the people who did the polling, rather than trading on the name of widely read leaker?
Answer: It’s not a reliable poll. It’s a poll designed to move public opinion in a certain direction, rather than to provide an accurate reflection of existing opinion. In other words, it’s just a sophisticated form of push polling.

Further evidence of this is the way Novak described the poll himself in his Fox News Channel appearance last night, when he spoke of the results of “the poll, for what it’s worth”. For what it’s worth?! Now isn’t that interesting, that even Novak himself is not willing to say that he either knows or has good reason to believe that the poll was scientifically conducted at all. If it turns out to be a phoney, so what? It’s no skin off Novak’s back. He’s just the messenger.

As Mike Huckabee has said, presidential campaigning is a “full contact sport”. And that includes many tactics that are not what they seem.

Florida warm and sunny for Mike

2007-12-28T09:54:00.000-05:00

Check out this link to the Miami Herald story about Mike's successful fund-raising efforts in Florida, not to mention the endorsement by Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio of Miami-Dade, representing tremendous support from the Cuban-American community. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/358749.html

(Just one oddity to note: although the Miami Herald article talks about Mike's having risen to number 2 in the polls, the last Rasmussen poll I can find (Dec 14) has Mike number 1 for Florida's Jan 29 primary at 27%, 4 points ahead of Mitt Romney and 8 points ahead of Giuliani! (So much for Rudy's Florida "firewall"!)

Mike on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” re: Bhutto Assassination

2007-12-28T09:48:00.001-05:00

Mike was fantastic!

The two main questions he was asked were: 1) whether or not he was ready--today--to be commander-in-chief to respond to such crises. He said "That's what Governor's do", and proceeded to list some of the types of crises--school shootings, tornadoes--he had to respond to during 11 years as Arkansas Governor, and

2)what the implications are for US policy toward Pakistan, specifically, whether the US was pushing too hard for a reconciliation between Musharraf and Bhutto. Mike referred back to his September foreign policy speech in which he spoke in detail about US-Pakistan relations. Mike then said how both Musharraf and Bhutto represented moderate, secular elements, and that what the US needed to do was lean on Musharraf to either go after the Taliban and the terrorists or let us do it. He gave the example of the recent call-off of a special ops attack on Bin Laden's top deputy, because we didn't want to offend Musharraf because we didn't get his permission. Mike reminded the audience of the billions of dollars the US has poured into the Musharraf regime and how we needed to use that leverage to go after Bin Laden.

I think Mike really sounded like he had a much better handle on the role of the US and its President than President Bush, who has been intent on using US influence to push democracy on other countries, rather than using it to pursue our legitimate national interests, like going after Bin Laden.

This was a home run if I ever witnessed one in the campaign: Mike used the opportunity to give a valuable lesson in US foreign policy to anyone fortunate enough to watch the show. Impressive!

Fox News Channel on Bhutto Assassination: Everybody gets the Mike except Mike

2007-12-27T23:22:00.000-05:00

Tonight on the FNC primetime shows (The O'Reilly Factor, guest-hosted by Laura Ingraham) and Hannity and Colmes (Colmes is there, with Rich Lowry guest hosting for Hannity).

It was wall-to-wall Bhutto assassination coverage.

Laura Ingraham did a long interview with John McCain.

Hannity and Colmes did separate full interviews with: Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, and Mitt Romney.

In concluding the show, Colmes noted how interesting it was to get "the views of all the candidates".

Not surprisingly, they didn't interview any of the Democrats, but it sure was telling that Mike's was the only conspicuous GOP absence. They did have a short clip of Mike--literally a few seconds--expressing sympathy and condolence for Bhutto's family. The not so subtle message: "Gee, what a nice guy to have as a chaplain, but a President?"

But if you check out the mikehuckabee.com website, you’ll find, in Mike’s statement about the Bhutto assassination, perhaps THE best reminder of what we’re up against in the war on terror:

“I believe that we are currently engaged in a world war. Radical Islamic fascists have declared war on our country and our way of life. They have sworn to annihilate each of us who believe in a free society, all in the name of a perversion of religion and an impersonal god. We go to great extremes to save lives, they go to great extremes to take them. This war is not a conventional war, and these terrorists are not a conventional enemy. We must fight the war on terror with the intensity and single-mindedness that it deserves.”

Did somebody say 'gravitas'?

Huckabee leads in AP Poll released 12/27

2007-12-27T14:00:00.000-05:00

AP released a poll - conducted December 14-20 tht show's Mike with a slight lead nationally -

Mike Huckabee - 22 percent
Rudy Giuliani - 21 percent
John McCain - 14 percent
Mitt Romney - 13 percent
Fred Thompson - 11 percent

The figures in the November AP poll were:

Giuliani - 27 percent
Thompson - 17 percent
McCain - 15 percent
Romney - 11 percent
Huckabee - 9 percent

A Rasmussen Poll released today had it as:

Huckabee - 20 percent
Giuliani - 18 percent
McCain - 14 percent
Romney - 13 percent
Thompson - 11 percent

The latest AP and Rasmussen figures are very similar - both showing Mike with a small lead over Giuliani. But given the fluidity of the race, Mike - and we - can't rest.

‘Tis the day after Christmas: Beware repackaged polls sold as new

2007-12-26T10:54:00.000-05:00

Now that Christmas is over, you can find outdated political news for sale at the Fox News outlet channel. This morning, it was all about John McCain, and how he’s surging in NH and could even win, after a strong showing in Iowa. “It’s a great time to be John McCain” said pollster Scott Rasmussen, who conducts the prestigious daily presidential tracking polls, in a live Fox News Channel in-studio interview.

Just one slight problem, folks: Rasmussen was just repeating the same week-old polling information he had collected December 16-19 and reported December 20. The only polling organization I could find with an actually more recent poll is the American Research Group (ARG), which polled Iowans (though not NH voters, apparently) during December 20-23. The ARG poll showed that in Iowa, Mick Huckabee was still in the lead, while Romney bumped slipping John McCain out of 2nd place. Looks like the media establishment is still pumping up John McCain, in the interest of keeping the contest as tight and contentious as possible.

Newspaper endorsements

2007-12-26T06:58:00.000-05:00

We've heard about the Dallas Morning News endorsing Mike Huckabee. That's great.

But more important for January 3, Mike has also picked up on a number of endorsements in Iowa - 6 at this point (as opposed to McCain's 5).

Huckabee_

Adel Dallas Co. News (weekly)
Albia Union-Republican (weekly)
Chariton Leader (weekly)
Iowa City Press-Citizen (daily)
Sheldon N'West Iowa Review (weekly)
Shenandoah Valley News Today (daily)

McCain -

Ames Iowa State Daily
Davenport Quad-City Times (daily)
Des Moines Register (daily)
Iowa City Daily Iowan
Logan Herald-Observer (weekly)

And then there's one for Romney -

Sioux City Journal (daily)

Mike is picking up the small town crowd, while McCain is getting the big city papers.

Hindus for Huckabee

2007-12-24T00:37:00.000-05:00

On yesterday’s Townhall.com blog, Phoenix talk show host and author Austin Hill posted a Huckabee hit piece entitled: “Mike Huckabee: ‘Vote For Me, I’m An Evangelical’”. In this article, Hill whines about not being able to recognize his beloved Republican Party “anywhere”. Then he proceeds to fire off one unsubstantiated charge after another, calling Mike “more reminiscent of President Carter”, “anathema to the political conservative movement”, having “a less-than-conservative track record” as Governor of Arkansas, without detailing even one of Mike’s actions or position’s with which he disagrees. These would certainly qualify as “nanny state mud balls” I wrote about it my post the other day.

But then, about a third of the way into his article, Hill gets down to the nitty-gritty hinted at in his title: “By both implicit and explicit means, Huckabee has been conveying that his Evangelical Christianity—his personal faith, his having attended a Bible college, and his status as an ordained Pastor—qualify him to be President!”

Then he accuses Mike of “forc(ing) theological arguments into the political debate.”

Hill’s polemic gets more and more strident. He talks about Mike’s “dangerous mindset (which) precludes the possibility of building consensus with anybody who doesn’t happen to go to the ‘right’ church.”, and he concludes his hit piece with the “hope that there are other conservative Americans who are as disgusted” as he is.

This is pretty vile stuff. And you have to figure that what really put Hill over the top (although he doesn’t even mention that specifically) is the video Christmas message Mike Huckabee put out the last week, which 28-second video has the media going nuts.

As Mike Gallagher said in his Townhall.com post on Dec. 21 (“Huckabee’s Cross”), “Americans who are completely disgusted with the full frontal assault on anything and everything Christian paid attention. They simply could not believe their eyes and ears, that mean-spirited, Christmas-hating pundits and liberal media elitists were actually whining and complaining that someone (perhaps) had the audacity to display a Christian symbol during a Christian message that celebrated Christmas!”

Mike Gallagher then goes on to talk about such visceral anti-Christian reactions to Mike Huckabee’s Christmas video ad moving many undecided Christian voters to support Mike Huckabee.

It’s even more sweeping than that, Mr. Gallagher.

As a New Yorker, my circle of friends and associates is quite ethnically and religiously diverse. One Indian-American Hindu friend of mine has been supporting Mike Huckabee for weeks, attracted particularly by his advocacy of the Fair Tax, and her support of Mike is as strong as ever now.

But another Indian-American Hindu friend of mine reacted even more strongly. “I like Huckabee”, he said, “because I think he’s the most genuine of the candidates”. But the reaction to Mike’s Christmas message really drove him over the top, to volunteering to put his name on the ballot as a Huckabee convention delegate. “This political correctness is outrageous!”, he told me. “How could anyone possibly object to a candidate giving a Christian message in a country in which the overwhelming majority are Christians? All this ‘Happy Holidays’ stuff is really outrageous. We have the same political correctness in India. India is a county in which the overwhelming majority are Hindus, but you’re not allowed to say ‘Happy Diwali’ anymore, you have to say ‘Happy Festival’!”

Mike Gallagher, you’re onto something here, and it’s even bigger than you suggest. Mike Huckabee’s appeal runs wider and deeper than just among Evangelicals and even wider Christianity. That’s one reason Mike will make a great President for all Americans; even you, Austin Hill!

Buffet throws two left jabs at Mike

2007-12-23T23:11:00.000-05:00

To the unwitting GOP recipient of Newsmax.com, stories number 1 and 2 on the list of breaking headlines today would seem to reveal some new negatives about Mike Huckabee. In a minute, I’ll get to the fact that they are neither new nor substantive and explain why. But that leaves the question as to why they are there in the first place. The answer is pretty simple really. Newsmax is owned by Warren Buffet, the billionaire businessman who supports the candidacy of one Hillary Rodham Clinton. Ergo, it is in Buffet’s interest to attack the GOP front-runner, thus to keep the intra-party GOP rivalry going as long and as contentiously as possible. I say this at the outset by way of a conflict of interest declaration, since Newsmax.com displays no such courtesy.

The first Newsmax.com headline is entitled “New Revelations about Huckabee and Mormonism”. It then quotes from the December 16 NY Times Magazine article, with Mike saying he “didn’t know much about” Mormonism. Thus does Newsmax.com embark on the “What did he know and when did he know it” version of the ‘gotcha!’ game. The article then harks back to a 1998 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) at which Mike was the keynote speaker. To quote the Newsmax.com article directly: “At the annual meeting, the SBC distributed copies of a book entitled ‘Confronting the Contradictions Between Mormon Beliefs and True Christianity’”, authored by a high-ranking SBC official. The gist of the rest of the Newsmax.com story is that this book contains many details about Mormon beliefs, and that it is likely that Mike Huckabee got a copy and at least perused it. The implication here is that Mike was somehow being disingenuous with the NY Times when he said he “didn’t know much about Mormonism”, because he probably had some familiarity with the book in question.

For the sake of argument, let us assume that Mike Huckabee read every single word of the SBC book about Mormonism. In fact, let’s go even further and assume Mike even memorized every word of it. But let us also assume that he is not familiar with much else about Mormonism, and that Mike is a fair-minded fellow (Why else would we even consider electing him US President?). So now Mike is asked about Mormonism (not because Mike—as some suggest—is injecting religion into the campaign, but because the media is preoccupied with it), and he is familiar with the details as expounded by a single source (the SBC book) which has a very clear and obvious bias (published by the SBC!). Well, if Mike is the fair-minded guy we expect he is, he sure wouldn’t presume to have any real knowledge of Mormonism—or anything else, for that matter—based on a single, biased source, would he? So the only honest answer Mike could give a journalist is that he “didn’t know much about Mormonism”, right? So where’s the beef in this Newsmax.com story? There isn’t any, except to underscore that Mike is an honest and fair-minded fellow who neither knows nor cares much about his opponents’ religious affiliations.

The number 2 headline story from Newsmax.com today is entitled “Huckabee Flip-flops on Cuba, Immigration”. The facts revealed in this story are not new in any way, and have been fully explained by Mike. But since Newsmax.com raised the issue, I think it’s worth using the opportunity to flesh out the issue of experience in the context of the Presidential race.

The article cites the facts that, as Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee argued for lifting the trade embargo against Cuba (because it was hurting the business of Arkansas rice farmers), protested against a federal raid to round up illegal aliens working at an Arkansas poultry plant, and advocated in-state tuition for children of illegal aliens. Mike has publicly reversed himself on the issue of the Cuban trade embargo, and adopted a tough plan for dealing with illegal immigration. At least Newsmax.com quoted Mike accurately regarding his new positions: “Rather than seeing it as some huge change, I would call it, rather, the simple reality that I’m running for President of the United States, not for re-election as governor of Arkansas.”

But then the Newsmax.com article repeats an attack by Mike’s GOP rival Fred Thompson, who had accused Mike of “changing his position on the embargo ‘on a dime to appeal to a particular group of people right before an election.’” Easy for Fred to say. As a senator and an actor he never had to be concerned about the economy of a state for which he was responsible. What should a state governor do if the federal government does nothing to stem the tide of illegal immigrants who flock across the border for jobs in the US, and then tries to selectively enforce the immigration laws in his state, hurting businesses in his state? What should a state governor do when illegal immigrants have children in his state’s school system (about which he has no choice), and these students work hard and excel academically? Punish them because of their parents’ immigration status? As Mike said in one of the recent debates in defense of his position, “I think we’re a better country than that.” And what should a state governor do when his state’s farmers are denied access to a nearby market for their crops due to an international embargo?

Fred Thompson has never had to deal with these issues as part of any real life responsibility. So that brings us to the issue of the importance of the experience of being a successful state governor. The way I see it, there are two important aspects to this:
1) It is important to have a president who has the hands-on experience of reaching agreements with (mostly opposition party) legislative bodies (not to mention bureaucracies, the federal government and local governments, labor unions and other interest groups) re: all aspects of state government, from taxes to traffic to education to law-enforcement, and making it all work within the framework of a balanced budget, and
2) It is also crucial to have a president who has the perspective to understand precisely his role and responsibilities in the office to which he has been elected; to understand the difference between being governor of state (or mayor of a city, or CEO of a corporation, for that matter) and President of the United States.

And Mike Huckabee just keeps on demonstrating that he’s the best man for the biggest job.

Nanny State Mud Balls

2007-12-22T23:05:00.000-05:00

I must confess to being a bit puzzled. After all, isn’t, the most invasive and intrusive arm of the federal big government the IRS? With Mike Huckabee’s Fair Tax plan, the IRS would be abolished, because the Fair Tax would tax consumption instead of income. So why does it seem that Mike Huckabee gets such visceral attacks from the “real conservatives” who say they hate “big government” so much?

Looking at the other GOP presidential candidates, they (with the exception of Giuliani) and their supporters claim to be more conservative than Mike. And of course, the great Rush Limbaugh—no elitist he— “know(s) who the conservatives are and aren’t”. Then how come the IRS is just fine with all of them? (with some notable exceptions, like Neal Boortz—who literally wrote the book on the Fair Tax—and Mark Levin).

I wonder what these “real conservatives” think the founding fathers would think of the IRS. How could the likes of Jefferson and Madison possibly have countenanced a federal government agency that had the power to intrude without limit into the intimate financial details of its citizens, because it needed to find out how much everybody earns, from whom and for what? Is it any wonder that it took a 20th century amendment to the US Constitution (the 16th, ratified in 1913) to create that monster in the first place? I think the founding fathers would be very suspicious of politicians who thought the likes of the IRS was tolerable in any way, especially if they claimed to be the “true conservatives”. Maybe that’s one reason Mike’s message resonates so well with conservative voters. He appreciates that most Americans fear an IRS audit more than they fear getting mugged.

Let’s face it. The Fair Tax would not only serve its named purpose of making the tax system fair, and provide huge benefits for the economy, by for example, reversing the offshore exodus of American capital, but it would also have the enormous benefit of getting the federal government out of our lives in so many ways. Not only would there be no IRS to keep track of our intimate personal financial details, but the institution of the Fair Tax would also end the myriad system of income tax credits and deductions, thereby ending that most precious preoccupation of liberal legislators: manipulating the tax code to engineer social policy, regarding everything from housing to health care to education. Truth is, nothing could possibly do more to reverse the slide toward the nanny state we’ve been on during our entire lifetime, than the enactment of Mike Huckabee’s Fair Tax.

So, beware the verbal volleys launched by the “true conservatives” who think the IRS is just fine, or who think the IRS is a ‘necessary evil’, or who think that in our democracy, the will of the majority could never hit the delete button on the IRS. Beware the rhetoric that would claim the constitutional high ground in the presidential race; those who say they want to restore the original intent of the framers of our Constitution, but cannot countenance ending the tyranny of the IRS.

They’re just slinging nanny state mud balls, and they won’t stick to Mike Huckabee!

As the race narrows...

2007-12-20T23:09:00.000-05:00

It is interesting to note that, as Tom Tancredo has withdrawn his candidacy, Dick Morris (on tonight’s O’Reilly Factor) suggested that the GOP race is boiling down to a contest between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. Morris added that Mike is the candidate of the social conservatives, while Romney is the candidate of the “blue blood” GOP establishment.

I wholeheartedly agree with Morris’ assessment. It sure is hard to doubt that the candidate who has outspent Mike by 20-to-one is the establishment candidate. And I think voters on both sides of the aisle are rejecting the well financed, slick establishment campaigns (not to mention all the often dishonest attack ads that issue forth from same).

And in case there was any doubt about the real candidate of social conservatives, it is also interesting that both Mike and pre-eminent conservative radio talk show hostess and author Laura Ingraham had virtually the same thing to say about Britney’s 16-year-old sister’s pregnancy: At least she’s doing the right thing in keeping the baby, rather than having an abortion. Killing an innocent person is never the right way out of a difficult, inconvenient or embarrassing situation. Leave it our man Mike to turn a seemingly trivial question about a wayward pop-culture icon into an opportunity to remind the public about the sanctity of human life. Now that’s how to use the bully pulpit!

And finally, in the mold of O’Reilly’s “most ridiculous item of the day” segment, how about my “most ridiculous question of the week”: Which is more ridiculous; Hillary attacking Obama for something he wrote in kindergarten, or everybody (or so it seems) attacking Mike Huckabee for wishing America a Merry Christmas?

God bless America!

Newspeek debunks Romney attack on Mike Huckabee

2007-12-20T06:12:00.000-05:00

Newsweek magazine has looked at Governor Romney's latest attack ad on Mike , and found it full of "false and misleading claims."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/80949

Romney is coming across as desperate in the last week, attacking Mike every chance he gets. We just need to keep pointing out the truth - and the positive nature of Mike's campaign.

I'm also happy top see the campaign is getting better about responding to these attacks quickly. Rollins' influence, I suspect.

Mike Huckabee Needs New York Delegates!

2007-12-17T20:29:00.000-05:00

Received the following message today from the campaign:

Dear Supporter,

Thanks to your help, Mike Huckabee has experienced a tremendous rise in polls nationwide and is continuing to build momentum for the Republican primaries. As the campaign moves forward, he needs more help in New York.

In order to be on the ballot in New York, Mike Huckabee must complete his slate of delegates in the state. The deadline is very close, and he still needs to find a number of delegates to make it! There is no time commitment or expense for delegates between now and the Republican National Convention next September, which delegates can attend if Gov. Huckabee wins their vote.

If you might be interested in serving as a delegate for Mike Huckabee, please reply to Jared Morris at jared.morris@explorehuckabee.com. In your reply, please include your home address and congressional district number, if you know it.

Th ank you for your support, and we hope you can help Mike Huckabee as a delegate in New York!

Best regards,

Jared Morris
Ballot Access Coordinator
Huckabee for President, Inc.
jared.morris@explorehuckabee.com

I'm a delegate. You should be one, too! Maybe we can meet at the Convention in September! :)

Quinnipiac Poll: Mike second in New York, and surging

2007-12-17T16:04:00.001-05:00

The latest Quinnipiac poll has Mike second in New York - and cutting the sliding Giuliani's lead in half.

The December 17 poll results show Giuliani 34 percent, and Huckabee at 12 percent.
John McCain has 11 percent, Fred Thompson has 7 percent, and Mitt Romney and Ron Paul bot get 5 percent.

Giuliani held a 45 - 12 lead over Thompson in an October 17 poll. Huckabee had only 1 percent in that poll.

So Giuliani dropped 11 points overall, and his lead over Mike shrank from 44 to 22.

Keep getting the word out!

Huckabee wins O'Reilly "poll"

2007-12-17T15:51:00.000-05:00

Although Bill O'Reilly has been tough on him, people who visit O'Reilly's site obviously like Mike Huckabee.

In an unscientific survey, Huckabee eaily beat the other main GOP candidates.

Q: At this point in the campaign, which Republican candidate do you prefer?

Huckabee - 43%

Romney - 32%

Giuliani - 19%

McCain - 6%

Total Votes: 40054

Huckabee and America's Priorities in the War on Terror

2007-12-16T19:10:00.000-05:00

An article by Mike Huckabee about the War on Terror and American foreign policy is on RealClearPolitics today. You can find it here:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/12/americas_priorities_in_the_war.html

He wrote about American foreign policy, securing Iraq, containing Iran, and tough love for Pakistan.

Governor Huckabee reaches out to Catholics

2007-12-15T12:24:00.001-05:00

Mike Huckabee was recently interviewed by Catholic Online. (http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=26206)

He talked about pro-life issues, education (and school choice), Iraq, taxes, immigration, terrorism, and more.

More and more Catholics are joining with evangelicals to support Mike. This will be important in New York, with its large Catholic population.

Don't forget to write letters to your local Catholic newspapers!

Rollins to head campaign; new polls looking good

2007-12-14T16:30:00.000-05:00

The man who helped Ronald Reagan win 49 states in 1984 has signed on with Mike Huckabee's campaign as national campaign manager.

Ed Rollins also worked for Presidents Nixon and Ford.

So many Republicans look back with fondness to the Reagan years and his brand of Conservativism, and this addition to the staff just helps to link the Huckabee's campaign to Reagan and those feelings.

Meanwhile, in the latest Rasmussen poll, Huckabee continues to lead Giuliani 23 to 19 nationally despite a slew of unfounded attacks on Mike. He is also leading Romney 39 to 23 in Iowa, Romney and Thompson 25 to 18 in South Carolina, and Romney 27 to 23 in Florida, and is in a statistical tie with Romney (but still ahead 21 to 20) in Michigan.

In states like New York and New Hampshire Huckabee is trailing in recent polls - but he is only really beggining to campaign in New Hampshire, and hasn't done so in New York yet.

For now, getting out his name and the word about him is up to us.

New Poll: Huckabee second in New York

2007-12-10T05:33:00.000-05:00

Although he has yet to campaign in New York, Governor Mike Huckabee has already risen to second in New York in a new poll - and he is rapidly gaining on the leader.

In the survey conducted December 2-8 by California-based Datamar Inc., Huckabee was the choice of 13.6 New York voters.

He now trails only Rudolph Giuiani, who was the choice of 35.7 percent.

But there's more.

In Datamar's November survey, Huckabee had commanded only 7.8 percent of the vote, and was in fifth place. So he has nearly doubled his numbers and vaulted over three other candidates.

The surge is evidently having an affect here.

Meanwhile, in November, Giulini had 38.8 percent. The new poll suggests his suport is slipping. He held a 31.1 point lead over Huckanbee in November. That has closed to 22.1.

And remember, we have barely begun efforts in New York.

Here's the data for the top tier candidates.

December

Giuliani - 35.7
Huckabee - 13.6
McCain - 11.3
Romney - 9.9
Thompson - 7.1

November

Giuliani - 38.8
Huckabee - 7.8
McCain - 9.8
Romney - 11.8
Thompson - 9.9

No other candidate gets more than 3.5 (Paul).

A significant figure in the latest survey is that 16.6 of the surveyed voters are still undecided slightly up from the 16.5 in November. These are the people we have to reach in the coming weeks.

(To see the full poll, go to http://www.datamar.net/pdf/nyrepublicanPPdec07.pdf)

Cohen's narrow-minded attack on Huckabee

2007-12-05T20:25:00.000-05:00

In his December 5 column in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle ("Huckabee’s moment of shame”), Richard Cohen accused Governor Mike Huckabee of “punting” when asked by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos if Governor Mitt Romney, a Mormon, is a Christian.

He also accused Huckabee of having “obdurate and narrow-minded religious beliefs.”

I suggest that Mr. Cohen has such narrow-minded beliefs, and that he does not understand Christianity or Huckabee.

Huckabee’s told Stephanopoulos, “Mitt Romney has to answer that. ... It's not for me to determine what somebody else's faith is.”

He was stating common Christian beliefs that each person has to account for his own faith, and it is not for other's to judge what lies in a person's heart. Moreover, Huckabee left ministry a long ago to become a public servant. He is running now to be President of a multi-religious United States, not Evangelical-in-Chief.

Further, Huckabee avoids tearing down others – as he declined to do to Rudy Giuliani in the same interview. Huckabee is trying to focus on issues and a vision for America.

People may disagree with him on those issues and that vision. That’s fine. But Cohen going after Huckabee on religious grounds for not going after another candidate on religious grounds strikes me as “narrow-minded.”

Echoing Cohen’s football reference, I think in this case Cohen’s attempted bomb was just an incomplete pass.

(A modified version of the above is being submitted as a letter to the editor.)

Huckabee on immigration

2007-12-01T20:37:00.000-05:00

Now that Mike Huckabee is rising in the polls – leading in at least one poll in Iowa, and second nationally in the most recent Rasmussen Tracking Poll - he is coming under increasing attack.

One target of critics is Immigration. Governor’s Huckabee’s record has been distorted – particularly in terms of “scholarships for illegal immigrants” - and his positions have been ignored or even misrepresented.

Here are some of the things he is actually calling for:

He says our borders must be secure.

He supports the $3 billion the Senate has voted for border security.

He opposes amnesty and sanctuaries for illegal aliens.

He opposes giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens (as was proposed by Governor Spitzer in New York).

He believes that employers who hire illegal aliens should be punished with fines and penalties.

He opposes the economic integration of North America that would create open borders among the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

So his positions are pretty clear.

As for the issue of illegal immigrants getting tuition assistance in Arkansas, the facts are different than his opponents are implying.

There was a bill in 2005 that would've given children of illegal immigrant the lower in-state tuition rates offered to other Arkansas students. There was also an academic merit-based state scholarship that they would have been able to apply for if they met the criteria.

But the children of Illegal immigrants had to have gone through the Arkansas school system, and had to have the ability to pay instate tuition rates for college education.

Further, the proposed law contained a clause that said those children who accepted the lower tuition would have to file an affidavit stating that they intended to legalize their immigration status.

Thus, if enacted, the law would have affected a limited number of such students, not the large numbers of students Governor Huckabee’s opponents have tried to imply.

The law did not pass anyway.

When challenged at the You Tube Debate about the issue by Mitt Romney, Huckabee replied, "In all due respect, we're a better country than to punish children for what their parents did. We're a better country than that."

For a more complete explanation of his position, go to http://www.mikehuckabee.com

2007-11-29T23:04:00.000-05:00

Thank you to M. Sweeney of Choose Mike Huckabee for President 2008! blog for graciously allowing this blog to transfer ownership to the members of the Rochester, NY for Mike Huckabee Meetup Group so that we can coordinate some state-wide information about Mike Huckabee grassroots efforts.