Mike Huckabee may be the 2012 GOP front runner AP Photo/Gregory Smith
Ever since the 2008 Presidential campaign came to an end many polls and pundits have labeled Governor Mike Huckabee as the front runner for the 2012 Republican nomination. H currently is beating out the likes of Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
In several polls conducted since the end of the 2008 election cycle each of them have placed Huckabee squarely in the lead. However in a National Campaign Huckabee would have little chance of beating President Barack Obama.
If we look at his 2008 primary victories we see that all of Huckabee’s primary victories came from southern states. He all he won, Iowa, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Kansas, and Louisiana.
In any potential battleground states Huckabee did rather poorly; he finished 3rd in Michigan, and 4th in Florida. He was also unable to win South Carolina. This is important since any potential GOP candidate is going to have to win South Carolina, Florida and make Michigan competitive. If that is the case nominating Huckabee at this point would seem to guarantee a second Obama term.
With all of that being said let us look at Huckabee’s details:
Age- 54
Family- Wife, Janet 3 kids
Religion- Southern Baptist
Education- Ovachita Baptist University
Experience- Arkansas Lt Governor
Arkansas Governor
I should note that it is very likely Huckabee could have added US Senator to his political resume if Arkansas Governor Jim Trucker had not gotten convicted in the White Water scandal and resigned from office. Huckabee was leading that race by a wide margin but quit the campaign to finish Trucker’s term as Governor.
Huckabee is not the only potential GOP candidate that has strong ties back to the political ugliness of Clinton Presidency. However it is also important to note that Dick Morris ran both his 1993 and 1994 campaign for Lt. Governor in Arkansas.
Huckabee’s stances on the issues are pretty much what one would expect from a Southern religious Republican. He supports the death penalty, building a fence to separate the US from Mexico and is in favor of concealed weapons permits.
As a religious man Huckabee opposes abortion, same sex marriage, and civil unions. The most interesting thing about Huckabee is he is a supporter of the Fair Tax system.
Essentially the fair tax system would allow American workers to keep their entire paychecks. The taxes that fund the Federal Government would then be embedded into the price of every day consumer goods.
For example say a loaf of bread cost $1.50, under the fair tax proposal the bread would still cost $1.50 but a certain percent of that purchase would be tax profit for the government.
While it is a complicated system it has strong support among the voter of this county and is surely why Huckabee was able to run such a moderately successful 2008 presidential campaign.
Other Potential 2009 GOP Presidential Candidates:
Comments
Interesting that no one is commenting on this and many have commented on Romney. I agree that Huckabee is not a legitimate threat to Obama, while Romney likely is.
God bless them both!
It's too early to say what a Huckabee-Obama contest would be like in 2012 but I know what the outcome would have been last year. Obama would still be a Senator from Illinois today.
While Huckabee would not have won the demos that McCain got creamed in, but the gaps would have been closed. Why? Mike won all of them in the primary exit poll data.
The way everything went down last year the bailout cost McCain the election. The banking bailout was very unpopular then and it is even more so now. While McCain and Obama rushed to Capital Hill to vote yes, Mike railed against it on TV every chance he got.
Another key to Obama's victory last year was his ability to flip the map from '04. NC, VA, FL, IN IA, and OH would have stayed red for sure. Obama may still have snatched the Southwest states of NV, CO, and NM but Huck would have changed the map too. His retail politics plays very well in MN and WI and the FairTax would have won him MI too.
This assessment definitely underestimates Mike Huckabee's chances against Barack Obama.
Mike Huckabee ran a national campaign and won more states on a shoestring budget ($4 million) while Mitt Romney tried to buy the nomination with his money ($50+ millions) and kept on losing. If given the same monetary resources as Romney, Huckabee would have blown away Romney. The message that Huckabee presents is very potent. Potent enough to make up a sizable gap in the money differential between himself and his ultra-rich fellow contenders as well as against Barack Obama.
In 2008, John McCain carried name recognition for many Republican national voters. Come 2012, Mike Huckabee will carry similar name recognition with many Republican national voters. Especially with a national platform in the form of his syndicated TV series, Huckabee, and his daily radio spot, The Huckabee Report.
His lengthy executive experience shows that he has staying power. He's not a one-term wonder.
Huckabee is a Gomer Pyle looking goober. If the GOP nomination in 2012 goes to Gomer Pyle or Caribour Barbie I will do what I did in 2008 and vote third party. If the GOP wises up and runs Romney, a man who actually understand economics, I will vote for him.
I know a lot of Republicans that feel the same way. Run Huckabee or Palin and we will have four more years of the Obamanation. Run Romney and our long national nightmare is over.
Mike Huckabee will become President in 2012.
Two statisticans who hold Ph.D. degree's calculated who will win the Presidential nomination in 2012. They used statistical algorithms and data from 1789 to 2008 covering more than 56 U.S. Presidential elections.
The results show Governor Mike Huckabee winning the 2012 Presidential Elections in a landslide.
Google: "Huckabee Fan Club" to review.
Reagan Fans helped Ronald Reagan with a huge comeback win in 1980 after his loss in 1976. And now the Huckabee Fans are doing the same to help Mike Huckabee capture the nomination in 2012.
Take a look at the link above, there is a Huckabee Fan in 50 States that span more than 330 counties in America. That's more than 10% of every county in America already.
Before 2012 arrives there will be a Huckabee Fan in every county of every state in America. No hill is too high for a Huckabee Fan to climb. This extensive network of Huckabee Fans will provide him a landslide victory in 2012!
The analysis is illogical in so many directions it is an extremely difficult one to which to respond. Firstly, how did SC, MI and FL become the "must win" states? What about IA, NH, NY, CA??? Secondly, Romney will never win SC -- it will either be Huckabee or possibly Sanford, if he runs. Thirdly, with all the economic woes in MI, I assure you that Huckabee will be at least competitive. And, as for FL, it is a whole new game.
Most importantly, Governor Huckabee will begin in 2012 (should he run) with name recognition, money, fundraising abilities (which are taking place currently, all the time maintining his eloquent debating skills, personality and huge likeability. Romney (if he runs) has nothing more than what he had the last time -- except this time around his competitor is 100% stronger.
Romney would be a disaster as he cannot win Independents.
Polling from PPP last week showed Huckabee as the strongest vs. Obama. That is objective data.
Also, Huckabee would do better at dominating debate vs. Obama as I have seen Romney and Huckabee debate many times and Huckabee is more quick.
I'm afraid you have this all wrong. Huckabee is way too shallow and Palin has a major image makeover. While I think Obama will win in 2012 i'll place my heart and my money on Romney. He has the brains, the machine, and the money.
I don't think Huckabee could win nationally and he'd be a terrible choice for the Republican Party which needs desperately to regain support in the north and west.
Huckabee's support proved to be weak outside of the south last time and as a Baptist preacher from Arkansas whose only education was from a two year Bible college, I can't imagine being taken seriously by most of the Country and particularly by New England and West Coast intellectuals.
If he did win, he would be one of the least educated Presidents in our history.
Mitt Romney was favored by a solid margin and expected to win the 2008 Republican nomination and lost. If he can't fulfill expectations on the nomination level, how would you expect him to win on the national level? I have no doubt that Romney would lose to President Obama in 2012.
Governor Mike Huckabee beat most expectations. Not only did he beat one-term Governor Romney, Governor Huckabee exposed how weak Senator John McCain's support was nationally by beating him in states after Super Tuesday when Sen. McCain supposedly wrapped up the nomination.
Also, if you're going to associate Mike Huckabee with Gomer Pyle, keep in mind that Gomer Pyle carried his own show for 5 years. Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (United States Marine Corps). Gomer might not have been the smartest, but he got the job done. And that's exactly what Gov. Huckabee would do as President. ;)
Why is it that Reverend Huckabee and his supporters can't stop attacking Romney?
Mike Huckabee's latest book was filled with criticisms of Romney violating Reagan's 11th Commandment that "Thy shall not speak ill of another Republican". For Huck and his legions of fans, it is as if they have a vendetta against Mitt. Yet, I've never heard Romney utter an unflattering word about Huckabee. Not even once.
This story and the posts here should be about Huckabee and his strengths or weaknesses as a 2012 candidate but yet once again, it is filled with negative statements about a competitor.
It is not very Presidential of Huckabee to write a book filled with such statements and to encourage his supporters to do the same.
It's interesting how the first comment written in this article was an attack on Governor Mike Huckabee by someone supporting Governor Mitt Romney. So in defense of Gov. Huckabee, comparisons need to be made to Gov. Romney. Making comparisons between two possible candidates (Govs. Huckabee and Romney) is not attacking one over another. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of one over another.
It's funny how people who support Gov. Romney are quick to refer to Gov. Huckabee as Rev. Huckabee as a way to dismiss his years as Governor of Arkansas and to highlight his religious background in an attempt to promote the notion that he's supposedly "unelectable". So it should not come as a surprise that people are going to bring up Gov. Romney's Mormonism.
Gov. Huckabee has already proven that he can not only get elected to an executive position but also RE-ELECTED unlike other possible candidates. He must know how to do the job right since the people voted him back into office
Surgen,
The first comment merely said it was interesting that "no on is commenting on this" article about Huckabee while many had commented about a similar article on Romney. How exactly do you call that an attack? It wasn't. It was an observation of fact.
With regard to the term Reverend Huckabee, it is a title that should engender respect. Former candidate Ron Paul is interchangably called Ron Paul, Congressman Paul, Representitive Paul, and Dr. Paul. I don't think anyone means to discredit him as a Presidential candidate when they call him Dr. Paul. Likewise sometimes Mike Huckabee is called Reverend Huckabee but he shouldn't be offended by that title.
Hope Huckabee gets back in the race in 2012. I think there will be a change in office.
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