Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Oh Yuck, Huck
Friar Huck is done. I was surprised that he did not do better in Southern Baptist dominated Texas. He had won in SBC territory before. It's a good thing for GOP hopes in the fall that he did not give McCain a black eye in a state as critical as Texas, which he could have done by even running close. Wonder why he did not do better? Was it because mainline Republicans thought it was time to close ranks and get behind the apparent nominee? Was it because Texas isn't all that conservative after all, what with the steady migration of outsiders from the U S ("yankees" mainly) and from Mexico? Did his votes crossover to vote for Hillary? Texas is also a state where the SBC splintered into three denominations virtually, a conservative group, a liberal group and the regular SBC folks -- was Huckabee seen as belonging more to one of those groups and unable to bridge to the others? Did his campaign run out of money? Or did folks just finally see through the rhetoric and figure him out for the big government, higher taxes, pro-war politician that he really is?
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Early last fall, I finally had an evening where I could watch one of the GOP debates. I was looking forward to it because at the time there were lots of folks running, and I knew little about several of them.
All I knew about Huckabee then was that he was a former governor and minister. When I first heard him, I was impressed by his ease at the podium and the way he handled himself publicly.
As I learned more about him, I realized I did not agree with all of his positions - but for a conservative today - which of the available candidates would have met that test?! Frankly, Huckabee struck me as a "fresh face", a good communicator, and the kind of person who would move right if Congress would allow him to do so.
In the end, I imagine most of the GOPers who voted Tuesday came to the conclusion that McCain was the foregone winner...and moved in that direction. (I do wonder how different the nomination fight would have been if Huckabee had won North Carolina?)
It will now be interesting to see how the GOP moves in behind McCain.
It'll probably be fairly quiet on the GOP front for now - as Hill and BO will suck most of the air out of any room inhabited by the national media.
What do you think of Ron Paul, Bill?
Alan:
Unfortunately for Ron Paul - I found him to be a very ineffective messenger. He probably had as good a grasp of financial issues as any, but struggled to get them across.
So, if you think he's a poor messenger, what do you attribute his ability to raise more money from regular people (including the military) than any other republican candidate?
Committed followers AND an effective internet campaign.
By ineffective messenger - I was referring to his ability on the stump...in the debates.
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