Huckabee Gathers More Support
Mike Huckabee is considered a dark horse candidate at best, currently, but I, for one, think he remains a pretty serious contender, even if not a frontrunner. That’s because he has an appealing message, and from all indications, he greatly impresses most people who come in contact with him.
Case in point: our good friend Blue State Republican received an interesting email today from a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. I recommend you read the whole thing, but this comment is typical of those who meet the Arkansas Governor:
I attended an event today with Governor Huckabee and found him to be very articulate, very intelligent, and a genuine individual. I found that he connected very well with the audience and following the event I heard a number of people remarking how impressed they were with him.
The moral of the story: it’s way too early to write anyone off, yet. Rudy G. and McCain are the leaders now, but that’s more a function of name recognition than anything else. For the Huckabees and the Romneys, these visits to primary states to lay the groundwork are crucial in building grassroots support, and that kind of effort tends to pay off down the line.
Rudy G. and McCain are not the front-runners in anything but a series of essentially meaningless polls. George Allen is probably the consensus front runner in terms of his actual shot at winning the nomination at this point.
But I have a hunch the nominee may well be somebody very much like Huckabee. When the better- known alternatives are not viable (i.e., Rudy and McCain), that’s the way these things generally go.