Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Huckabee goes Downtown

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee opened his headquarters in Des Moines today. Team Huckabee has selected a great location in the ground floor of the Des Moines Building at the very busy intersection of 6th and Locust Streets in downtown Des Moines. Quite literally tens of thousands of people will drive and walk by the very large Huckabee signs every day.

The event was held in the lobby. About fifty people were in attendance, excluding Huckabee staff and media so the lobby was packed. The crowd provided a very good mix of Republican regulars (who are sure to attend the caucuses) and new faces. A larger percentage of young faces came by to see Gov. Huckabee, which is some evidence that he is reaching new people.

Larry Smith came up from Winterset to help form the RPI delegations. Larry and I left happy that Gov. Huckabee reaffirmed his plan’s to participate in the straw poll. I believe the expression was “playing to win”. The Straw Poll will provide a great opportunity for Mike Huckabee as retail politics seem to be his strong suite.

The Huckabee critique of the debate formats was right on target as well; not a single question was asked about education while several minutes were spent discussing evolution and Scooter Libby. Like the Governor says, he isn’t running for school board or seeking to write an 8th grade biology text. Similarly, Huckabee opined that not a single family watching the debates wondered if the next President would pardon Scooter Libby. My guess is that the Republicans watching our debate felt the possibility of a Libby pardon to be about as important to the next president as was the winner of this year’s Westminster Dog Show and far less important than the 2007 American Idol champion.

Huckabee is a strong candidate for Iowa and, by his appearance today, is getting stronger.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

From the Quad City Times:
Straw man.
Straw dog.
Straw poll.
All are as phony and flimsy as the three little pigs’ straw house. Thanks to some clear thinking by Republican presidential contenders Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, the Iowa Straw Poll hopefully will collapse as well.

The departure of these two GOP frontrunners from the Republican party pre-caucus event on the Iowa State University campus Aug. 11 spares Iowans and the rest of the nation from a meaningless, expensive fundraiser. Though it is pitched as some kind of measure of candidate viability, the straw poll is just a blatant cash grab by the Iowa Republican Party. Candidates are charged for table space at the event site, with the prime spots going to those who pony up the most cash the quickest. Each “vote” costs $25, and campaigns spend lavishly buying ballots and busing in participants from all over the nation.

The last contested Iowa GOP straw poll was in 1999 when candidates George W. Bush and Steve Forbes each spent more than $1 million on prime space and bringing in battalions of out-of-state supporters.

Democrats also make blatant cash grabs from their caucus contenders. But those are channeled into individual campaigns and at party events all over the state. The Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Des Moines typically draws the entire Democrat field during the caucus campaign and mobilizes Iowa supporters. But it doesn’t serve to narrow the field.

The withdrawal of McCain and Giuliani from the GOP straw poll renders the phony contest results meaningless and reveals how flimsy the whole event actually is.

Suppose these two national frontrunners tank in the Iowa caucuses because they ignored the straw poll. That would confirm that viability depends not so much on message, organization and the sentiment of caucus voters, but on the willingness to fork over cash to the state party to participate in this one-day event.

Suppose McCain and Giuliani prevail in the caucuses without showing up at the straw poll. Then those who did expend millions to buy a straw poll finish will learn the true value of this staged event.

Either way, the straw poll crumbles with not even a huff or a puff. Forget the straw poll. Let the candidates earn, not buy, the support of Iowans.

Anonymous said...

Jim (above post) there is a reason you lost to a complete retard for Governor. Its starts and ends with your take on what is and what is not improtant in Iowa politics.

NEXT

Ps. How is the weather in D.C.?

Anonymous said...

June 13, 2007
Novak: McCain in Deep Trouble

The latest Evans-Novak Political Report: "While Sen. John McCain claims that everything is 'fine' in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, events strongly suggest otherwise. The former frontrunner is now in deep trouble. With respect to the positive signs a presidential campaign can point to at this early stage -- fundraising, national polls, state polls, endorsements -- McCain finds himself almost empty-handed."

Key points:

-McCain has "fallen out of favor in the important state polls."
With respect to Q2 fundraising, he "is setting extremely low expectations by saying simply that he will raise more than that amount in the current quarter... Such a take would be woefully insufficient for him to continue in earnest, perhaps leaving him with one fourth (or less) of the cash on hand of his top competitors."

-Many high-profile Bush supporters "are currently keeping their powder dry in spite of McCain's aggressive courtship."

-Recent defections of "staff and high-profile supporters" are "more symptomatic than causal of McCain's problems."

-With Fred Thompson's candidacy "all but declared, the outlook becomes even more bleak for McCain."

As Yoda once said about McCain, "I would not say the McCain campaign is completely dead, but I wouldn't wait till the last minute to fill out thsoe organ donors cards if I were them."

LOL, that was some funny shit.

Unknown said...

I'm hopeful that Huckabee continues to pick up steam. He is right in both ideas and disposition. He is also an effective spokesman.

Scott Spray said...

Huckabee has not only moved into his new downtown Des Moines office, he is on the move up in the polls. Watch out Rudy McRomney!

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