Brownback not surprised by Huckabee’s surge
Former Republican presidential candidate Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) is commending former GOP rival Mike Huckabee for his rise in the polls, calling him “an authentic conservative.”
I’m sure that several people will call Senator Brownback misinformed or downright wrong, but I know of several more that will say that Brownback is echoing what they are thinking: “An authentic conservative”.
While still in the race, Brownback was competing aggressively with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee for the support of social conservatives. But Huckabee’s surging poll numbers do not surprise the Kansas Republican. Brownback says when he first entered the race he had trouble with name recognition. “When I first announced I was running and people were saying, you know, ‘what’s that guy’s name again, Brownback?’ You know they would do that on Huckabee, too. ‘Hucklebee, Huckle-what?’” he says.
When asked about Huckabee’s controversial Christmas ad, which allegedly features a “floating cross,” Brownback said all he saw was a bookshelf. He says people need to get over it, and that he does not feel Huckabee was trying to send a subliminal message in order to impose his evangelical Christian beliefs on Americans.
I would love to see a more thorough interview with Brownback on this and other topics. I have always had the utmost respect for Senator Brownback based on his support for traditional family values and commonsense. Now I can see that my support was not in vain – I just wish he had supported Mike instead of McCain back in November.
December 26th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I have been wondering about this for some time: what Brownback thought of surge of support for Huckabee and if he regretted dropping out when he did. I suspect that some that some of that support that Mike started getting recently could have gone to Brownback, had he stayed in.
December 26th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Brownback called him an “authentic conservative”…??
Huck can be called a lot of things but that title just does not fit.
December 26th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
When you consider what Brownback supported (Amnesty, dividing Iraq), you can understand why he sees Huck as an authentic conservative.
The truth, however, is that there is only one major candidate who supports conservatives positions on all the major issues, and who can combine that with the energy and experience needed to get the job done – Romney.
December 26th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Brownback would not have surged like Huck did. Brownback did not connect with people. You need to not only be a social conservative, you need to have that personal touch
December 26th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Tarheel – don’t you understand that to these guys “conservative” only means pro-life their whole life? Brownback and the huckster wear the same sheep clothing above their wolf bodies.
Brownback doesn’t really matter any more anyways. He just wants to be Governor in 2010 so he can run for Pres again in either 2016 or 2020 depending on what happens in the future.
December 26th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
[...] Tip: Brent Passmore at Race 4 [...]
December 26th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Ray, hopefully he can develop some political “personal qualities” while Governor to make him a stronger candidate in 2016/2020. He lacked presence on the campaign trail in 2008.
December 27th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Brett:
I worked on Senator Sam Brownback’s Presidential campaign a few months back, and I am supporting Huckabee. While Brownback differ on many foreign policy and economic issues, their social conservative values are the same and both their household issues.
Therefore, I wasn’t surprise to see that Brownback supported McCain because they are good friends in the Senate. Brownback is trying to keep the Washington forces alive and strong.
While McCain is in my opinion weak on some social issues, Huckabee is the forefront winner on the social and evangelical Christian vote in Iowa, and that will no doubt propel him to a victory.
I hope to see more commentary and a possible endorsement by Brownback for Huckabee in the near future.