Rave reviews on Huck’s speech from David Brody…
Talk about impressive. What Mike Huckabee did today in his speech at the Value Voters Summit Saturday was cement his reputation as a great speaker. Is he the next great communicator?
And some more love…
The speech was part policy, part tent revival. He was in full Pastor mode throwing out the Bible references left and right. The people I talked to afterwards were very impressed.
Update:
Check out this from REDSTATE…
The FRC Action Straw Poll confirms that Mike Huckabee is the big winner here today.
In the online poll that the Romney campaign pushed hard to win, he only managed to get thirty more votes than Mike Huckabee – 1595 to 1565 or 27.62% to 27.10%.
But, of the crowd *at* the Washington Briefing, Huckabee dominated everyone else.
Huckbee got 488 votes for an absolute majority out of the 19 candidates (all the Dems and GOP’ers) on the straw poll ballot (51.25%). Romney received 99 votes. What makes that even bigger news is that several sources connected to the FRC Action Washington Briefing have said Romney brought in “around 100? people to participate and assist.
October 20th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
[...] post by Rett Hatcher and software by Elliott [...]
October 20th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
From The Corner
“A representative of the Romney campaign just called to point out that some people who attended the Values Voters conference in person might still have voted online. ‘You could vote in person or you could vote online,’ he said. ‘That might be a reason why there is a bigger gap.’ He didn’t claim that Romney actually won the on-site contest, only that it might not have been quite the Huckabee blowout that it appears. And indeed, that might help explain why the on-site vote total was just 952, when more than 2,500 people registered for the conference”
October 20th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
At this point I think you’ll see the religious right rally around Huckabee and Romney.
I’m just wondering if Fred remains competitive much longer or if he just implodes in the next couple weeks.
October 20th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Go Huckabee! He’ll beat Romney in Iowa. As I’ve documented, Iowa always gives 23-31% of their vote to openly religious conservatives. (That is the combined vote totals of Bauer, Keyes, Robertson and Buchanan in the contested Iowa GOP caucuses in the last 20 years.)
“The speech was part policy, part tent revival. He was in full Pastor mode…” And that’s why Rudy will beat him after Iowa. That’s the kind of guy who represents the GOP in a SNL skit, not in actual reality.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Metro, boy would I be laughing hard if you guys rooted for Huckabee for the next 3 months and actually got him.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
murphy, ighly unlikely, but better than Romney. Both would lose the general, and at least Huckabee is a genuine man, while Romney is a phony. Would be sweet justice.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Hey, murph. Good to see ya.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
hey econ, likewise!
October 20th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Metro,
I think you’re underestimating Huckabee at your peril. You ought to know by now that the GOP will let anyone with a smile and a southern accent represent them. And unlike other religious conservatives, Huckabee sells his social conservatism in a brightly amiable package. I’m from NJ, and MANY of the people I’ve met here, who’ve actually seen Huckabee, like him. And very few of them are so-cons. The fact that you prefer him to Romney is evidence enough to his ability to win both a primary and a general election. On any rational evaluation, you ought to prefer Romney. Indeed, undoubtedly social scientists viewing your post 50 years from now will laugh hysterically. They’ll ask themselves “huh, this libertarian minded guy preferred a candidate who increased spending by 10% a year, increased taxes massively, suggested banning smoking for pregnant mothers, mulled fondly the possibility of banning smoking entirely, disbelieves in science, and wants to entirely control women’s bodies, over a candidate who increased spending by 2% a year, and generally governed as a moderate…he must have been imbibing the shrooms he wants to legalize liberally”.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
The only possibility that Huckabee has to win is if significant fundraisers suddenly get behind him all of a sudden after months of not giving him any money.
Even though it is far fetched, it isn’t impossible because Thompson has been disappointing enough that some people might jump off his bandwagon and onto Huckabee’s.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Yes, I support Romney’s positions over Huckabee’s, for sure. But, assuming he found a magic way to get elected, I don’t know if they are REALLY Romney’s positions, nor do I think he’d get them implemented. Plus I hate the MAN. So many do. What does THAT say about his electability? Turning around your argument on Huck.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Only Romney can afford a big enough bandwagon to fit those who have been supporting other candidates comfortably. Brownback first, then Hunter and Tanc, followed by Huck and Fred.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Metro,
It says that Romney’s not electable? I agree. I wrote a front page article a few days ago, discussing this fact. My conclusion was, if Romney continued on his current course, he’d lose to Hillary in a landslide. But, what does this have to do with actual facts? I find it amusing that nice rational atheists like you and TLG, find yourselves giving into perfectly irrational sentiments like “yeah, I disagree with Mike Huckabee on just about everything, and Mitt Romney ostensibly agrees with me, and has actually taken actions to cut spending and shrink government, but golly, I hate him, so he’s bound to be worse…umm yeah”.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Who said I was an athiest?
And that’s not a correct description of my view on Romney.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
“Who said I was an athiest?”
People have accused you of being “anti-God” numerous times. You’ve always responded, almost verbatim “I’m not anti-God”. If you were religious, you missed the rather obvious response countless times: “I’m not anti-God! I believe in God!”
“cut spending and shrink government”
Well, those two happen to be facts. Government shrunk during his term, as measured by numbers of state workers, numbers of departments, etc. And spending decreased in rel terms. You’re free to disagree with this of course. But, that doesn’t mean your assertion ought to be taken seriously. Yes, Romney instituted “socialized” medicine, and undoubtedly that’s a legitimate cause for complaint among fi-cons. But, it still doesn’t alter the FACT that spending decreased in absolute terms in his first year as governor, and in real terms during 2 of the 3 remaining years.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Matt, what I’ve said was my religious beliefs are personal and of no relevance to politics. Nor should anyone else’s be.
The exact amount of spending in MA is a trivial fact in the broad argument. Bill Clinton cut capital gains takes, which is my #2 political priority after protecting private medicine. That did not make me a Clintonite.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
MetroRepublican,
Cutting spending is a trivial fact in the broad argument? I’m speechless. I suppose Mike Huckabee increasing spending by 10% a year is a trivial fact in the broad argument as well? Is this broad argument of yours devised with these rules in mind “Rule 1: Everything Romney’s done is abysmal. Rule 2: Everything Mike Huckabee’s done must be construed in such a way as to make him come out ahead of Romney. Rules 3-1000: Follow Rule 1 and 2 assiduously”?
October 20th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Matt, you know I don’t support Huckabee winning the primary and don’t believe he can win the general. So his economic performance is irrelevant to me.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Same with respect to Romney.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Matthew,
I don’t doubt that many of the people you’ve met in Jersey, who are familiar with Huckabee, like the guy. But, the fact is, Huckabee barely registers in every poll conducted in the Tri-State area.
Here are his results from the past five NJ polls; all since his second place finish in Ames:
Quinnipiac 10/9-15 1%
Strategic Vision 9/28-30 2%
Monmouth/Gannett 9/27-30 2%
Quinnipiac 9/18-23 2%
Strategic Vision 8/24-26 2%
In the Quinnipiac poll released earlier this week, Huckabee received the support of only one percent of Republican New Yorkers, and just 2% from GOPers in Connecticut.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I don’t hold it against Giuliani’s supporters to try to prop up Huckabee against Romney. It’s a strategy that might work. If social conservatives don’t see the writing on the wall and get behind the best candidate, they deserve what’s coming to them.
But after listening to Huckabee’s speech I wouldn’t even want him for VP. A little too crazy about abortion causing illegal immigration and suggesting that he would favor those who agree with his interpretation of the Bible. Not exactly contrary to the constitution, but a little too scary for me.
Imagine if one of the top tier candidates had made such statements. Or imagine if Romney had appeared before some Mormon politicos, declared that he was one of them and then started quoting the Book of Mormon, telling them that they should go back to their states and be true to their faith and convictions. His campaign would be in the tank, and I think to everyone that doesn’t share Huckabee’s theology, Huckabee’s campaign is also in the tank.
But that’s why these guys are second tier. We expect them to speak rot.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Sorry for that last word. I should have written “expect them to screw up”.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Huckabee (from Redstate):
” ‘I do not spell G-O-D, G-O-P. Our party may be important. But our principles are more important.” He says we cannot compromise our core beliefs. He says “Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time for those of us who call ourselves value voters to pledge our lifes, our fortunes, our sacred honor to that which is right, and true, and eternal.’
And then he’s gone.”
And that last sentence sums it up.
October 20th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
#2 Nancy French, one of the founders of http://www.evangelicalsformitt.com said: Six hundred people who were here in attendance voted online to avoid the looooong voting lines. For example, I voted online several days ago and I know many Gov. Romney fans present here did as well. She and her husband, David, were in attendance at the summit.
That would make sense, since the total number of the “on-site” vote was 952 and there were 2,000 plus attendees of the summit. It looks like around 1,000 of the folks who ATTENDED THE SUMMIT voted on-line.
October 20th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Romney can spin any way he wants to but add it all together and he still gets trounced by Huckabee.
This is ridiculous that he tries to manipulate the numbers and he still comes up short. So Sad. However, it was aGREAT DAY for Huckabee.
October 20th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
The spinning by the Romney people is exactly why many Republicans will never support Romney. He is not authentic, politically expedient and a creation of his millions. We want someone who is a real person who relates to real people, not an image with no core values. If we wanted that, we can simply vote for another Clinton. Romney supporters just don’t seem to understand that Romney will never appeal to the general public.
October 20th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
It really doesn’t matter who came in first place guys. That’s not the point. I didn’t expect Romney to win. It only mattered that Romney did well enough to be acceptable to the evangelicals. Huckabee can’t appeal to the fiscal conservative crowd nor a couple of other conservative factions and Romney does.
What really matters is who can appeal to all the conservative crowds well enough. What this event shows is Guiliani can’t overcome his lack of appeal to social conservatives, and Romney can.
Huckabee dives like a rock on fiscal issues and other conservative issues, so even though he is the favorite at this conference, he is failing else where. There is only ONE candidate that is appealing well enough to all the conservative factions, it is Romney. There is only ONE candidate that can bring all the factions back together. Romney won the most important prize of all this weekend.
So you can tussle over the final numbers and who voted online, even though they attended the conference, yadda, yadda. You’re missing the big picture!!!!!
October 21st, 2007 at 12:09 am
If Huckabee supporters are buoyed up but this poll, it just exacerbates our problem of spreading the conservative vote too thinly and puts Guiliani as the nominee. I say this because Mike is not electable. He has no money to run on, but Guiliani would love to see Mike take Iowa to keep Mitt from winning it. I don’t think this will happen. People are too smart for this and will ultimately get behind Mitt. He’ll be a great President. He is probably the smartest man we’ve ever had run, and his moral values are fabulous.
October 21st, 2007 at 12:39 am
#27 – Amen!
October 21st, 2007 at 8:23 am
I posted this on another thread but I’m going to repeat it here:
Huckabee isn’t electable, he’s popular among the value voters crowd. That sums it up.
If Romney were to go to a convention in SLC and talk about how there needs to be a Mormon in the White House, and he got a majority of the straw poll vote there and we all danced in the street and said, SEE, SEE he’s going to win!†You would shake your heads and think we were pathetic.
Your exuberance over rates what happened at the Value Voters event, and you’re like high school kids who won one football game after a losing streak and now predict the regional championship.