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Gallup is out with a new poll showing Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee currently in the best shape among the possible Republican presidential candidates. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, Huckabee has the second-highest name recognition, behind Sarah Palin, and has by far the highest net favorable rating among that group. An impressive combination of being well-known and well-liked.
Not only is Huckabee currently in a very good position to win the Republican primary, according to Tom Jensen of PPP, he is the most electable of the current top contenders, which also includes Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich.
Huckabee’s the only one of the top Republicans who has the combination of electability and base appeal it’s going to take to beat Barack Obama. Romney has the electability but not the base appeal, Palin has the base appeal but not the electability, and Gingrich sort of falls in the middle on both counts. A lot will change over the course of 2011 but at least based on the information we have so far Huckabee looks like the GOP’s best bet.
While we are clearly still a long way off from the GOP primaries, at this point, Huckabee is the person to watch. Interestingly, I don’t feel Huckabee has been getting the level of media focus one would expect for the individual that polling not only shows is in a strong position to win the primary, but is also the most electable in the general.
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I don’t *heart* huckabee.
I wonder how long Palin will be anywhere near Huckabee in the upper-right-hand corner after recent events:
http://firedoglake.com/2011/01/10/sarah-palins-political-career-may-already-be-over-but-if-its-not-it-should-be/
As to why Huckabee is not getting more media attention: I’m not aware of any positions or personal characteristics that really set him apart from other right-wing Republicans. He’s boring – more or less the Bill Bradley of the Republican Party. Of course, that could change at any time, depending on what he says or does.
Anyone see the gagillion teevee spots to repeal healthcare that Chucklebee is fronting? Must be a pretty big pile of cash buying the airtime, as the spots seem to be ubiquitous.
Eh – early days. My “money” is on JEB, but that’s just me. Time will tell.
Huckabee is unapologetically “Personhood At Conception.”
Sorry about the O/T, but we should have a moment of silence. Dancin’ Tom got three years in the joint.
Back to our regularly scheduled program.
I’m pretty sure he thinks his great granddaddy rode a dinosaur to work, too…
best news all day – bug boy does some hard time. thanks for the link.
on edit, here’s hoping there’s no Perry Pardon in the worx.
Awesome.
He’s going to appeal, so let’s not spike the ball before we get to the end zone.
right you are – got carried away, sorry…
“Senior Judge Pat Priest sentenced him to the three-year term on the conspiracy charge. He also sentenced him to five years in prison on the money laundering charge but allowed DeLay to accept 10 years of probation instead of more prison time.”
___
Doesn’t sound like “appeal” if he accepted the probation alternative.
Huckbee is folksy. He’s quick on his feet, and he’s not a noodle-head. He is a very viable candidate because he can sweet talk independents into ‘taking a chance.’ He doesn’t have any real policies other than getting himself elected, and will say what it takes to get there. With all that, he’s American Presidential timber!
BREAKING NEWS~
Tom DeLay SENTENCED to 3 YEARS~
YIPEE
Signed,
Native Texan
St. Edward’s University
Austin, Texas 1976
What a shame!
Check this out too:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/paul-duggan/-the-wife-of-a.html?hpid=topnews
She, an energy lobbyist
He, top staffer to BO on legislation
Very strange.
Any idea if Huckabee’s financial situation is such that he is prepared for a run? I realize it might be hard to gauge if he hasn’t announced his intention.
Hope we get to watch him leave for prison. Will be a good day for the country.
Bwahahahahahahahaha.
Delay’s attorney says they will appeal.
I assume it will be a minimum security facility. Not suggesting it should be otherwise, it is the public humiliation and loss of mobility that count.
Oh yes. Puhlese televise the perp walk.
You gotta love that picture. Hard to think “Mr. President.”
The slimming effect of vertical stripes is a lot like wearing black, it doesn’t help if your garment required an acre of fabric.
Not only that, but the dog looks like it’s being strangled.
I love that pic sooo much, I link to it every time Huck’s mentioned as prez material.
The dog made a note under the pic in his photo album, “Here I am posing with a pack of huskies.”
Nice one.
Probably had it left over after decorating the living room. :)
The dog’s to-do list has one item, “Do NOT look like food.”
I fear that everything looks like food to that bunch.
Y’know, I don’t care that DeLay is in a minimum security prison but I do think he should be forced to wear a (horizontally) striped jumpsuit.
One with a little drop panel in the rear end.
The super-size instruction appears to be attached to the y-chromosome.
Don’t see Obama’s name on that list anywhere. Proven he’s Republican. But he gave a great speech today on toning down the hatred and death in America, as drones comb Pakistan looking to kill women and children. Hypocrite, thy name is Obama.
x2
Huckabee has postioned himself very well.
Huckabee can probably capture some of those blue dog/ republican lite votes that OBAMA craves.
David Axelrod is about to challenge the Jersey Shore for funniest reality TV show trying to get Obama re-elected.
Obama is the only candidate running in 2012, that kicks and punches his base daily, I strongly doubt if this campaign strategy will get you elected.
David Plouffe and David Axelrod have a “SITUATION” and it is not on the Jersey Shore.
Let us savor for a moment the incoherence of the Huckabee et al “Personhood at Conception” position, about which I’ve written in some detail.
Equally delightful in this context is Legend-In-His-Own-Mind Scalia’s latest “textualism” assertion that 14th Amendment equal protection doesn’t extend to women.
BUT, Justice Scalia told “60 minutes” this several years ago:
Uh, OK, there you inferred you’d count women once.
The mind boggles.
So, let’s see, you have full constitutional rights from conception to birth. Unless, that is, you’re a female fetus, I guess…
Oh, wait — we all start out “female” in utero (it’s a chromosome thingy).
Then, as Scalia has elsewhere opined (See Vernonia v Acton et ux, suspicionless school drug testing), born walking-around type minor children have lesser constitutional rights (“…they’re kids, fer Chrissakes!”).
So, full constitutional rights from blastocyst to birth (ignoring the early 1st trimester chromosome shift problem for the sake of convenience here), then lesser rights ’til the age of Majority (particularly if you’re female — and, I guess we’ll pass on the Hermaphrodite problem as well for the sake of convenience).
Just Make Lemonade, I guess.
2012 will be the year of the Bipartisan Election.
Some relevant stuff re Huckabee:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbUxcgrgUnE&feature=related
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175334/tomgram%3A_max_blumenthal%2C_the_great_fear_/#more
Obama has better pull out now, because he clearly caters to the GOP base, and kicks the Dems base.
None of these candidates has very good numbers. GOP should bring in a new candidate if they really want to win, but with Obama going hard right maybe they don’t need to.
I don’t understand why Huckabee isn’t in court yet given this record: “Mike Huckabee Working with Foreclosure Fraud Scam Artist” (by David Dayen, Dec. 28, 2010).
“Interestingly, I don’t feel Huckabee has been getting the level of media focus one would expect for the individual that polling not only shows is in a strong position to win the primary, but is also the most electable in the general.”
I have a feeling though that his electability numbers are a product of the fact that he doesn’t get a whole lot of media attention (well, not counting friendly right wing media). Once he got some media scrutiny, those numbers would drop.
lol
He could probably survive all that if the economy was going to improve significantly in the next couple of years. The problem is “Are you better off now than you would have been if McCain had been elected?” is a losing campaign strategy for a candidate who ran on “Hope and Change” and “We can do better” last time.
He wants to impose Huckabeeia law.
LOL.
Huckabee gives a good ten minute speech, all folksy and charming, as long as it’s scripted and on his terms. Pushed for solutions and asked complex questions, he falters. Plus, he has problems with his background with conservatives. I think he could be beat and it wouldn’t be that close. He is a religious fundamentalist and that isn’t going to play well when the spotlight is on him.
He’s a shitty bass player. too.