Mike Huckabee has an outside chance of winning the Republican nomination. It all starts today with the Iowa Caucus. Perhaps his biggest negative is a common assumption that he can’t win it all. He’s too conservative and too Baptist.
In a brilliant move, Huckabee landed an appearance on the Tonight show with Jay Leno last night — the night before the Iowa caucus. What thousands of Iowans saw last night is a charming personable guy. His humor and wit disarms you, and he lives up to his billing as a conservative who isn’t mad at everyone.
Huckabee was wonderfully received by both Leno and his crowd. And it is this ability to portray himself positively and amiably in venues typically unfriendly to Republicans which sets Huckabee apart. In early 2007, he made an appearance on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart where he impressed Stewart and his crowd as well.
Jay Leno and Jon Stewart treat Huckabee with respect and give him the time of day. Their audiences give him their ear. One can’t imagine the typical Republican being so well received on these shows. So it stands to reason, that Huckabee really can win it all. He really has crossover appeal.
If the video clips below don’t convince you, check out my list of reasons why Huckabee can win the general election. And better yet read a joint endorsement from Joe Carter (Evangelical Outpost), Justin Taylor (Between Two Worlds) and Matthew Anderson (Mere Orthodoxy) which really lays out the case for Huckabee.
See the Daily Show with Jon Stewart interview here.
Jon Stewart’s Daily Show would never even think of endorsing Huckabee.
he’s respected because that’s what a decent show does.
Perhaps you should watch what happens when Paul comes on The Daily Show/Colbert Report, once it comes back up.
I watched last night, and all i saw was a man who can’t even stick answer the one serious question he was asked.
he rarley talks about the issues, he’s all about himself, it’s what makes it hard to talk about what he thinks about things because he only talks about himself and then offers not to play the bass set aside for him.
sounds like another Arkansas governor. Huckabee reminds me in policy, actions, attitudes of Bill Clinton.
Iowa will show us one big thing:
Ron Paul will win.
Ron Paul Revolution!!!
Bob,
I completely agree. I watched the Jay Leno show just to see how Huckabee would do. He did great! He has a very quick wit and does come across as a very “normal” guy and a politician with a conscience.
So pissing off everyone even remotely sympathetic to labor issues and unions is a good thing? He did cross a picket line to make his so called “brilliant move”
Huckabee so seemlesly integrated a conservative message into the warm hearted humor that many might miss it. Clearly this is a guy with a smal government mind who means it when he intends to give a culture of life more than just lip service. Class act and great comunicator of the values I personally hold dear. He was also spot on in his comments regarding Barack Obama.
For the record, Huckabee was assured by Leno that no replacement writers were used for the show. Huckabee has been outspoken that the writers deserve fair pay for their work. He talked about this issue on the CBS’ The Early Show this morning. See also this statement by Huckabee’s campaign.
He did great on Leno last night. Every time I hear him speak, he says what i want to hear as a conservative, but when i look at his past record of compromising with Democrats, it just makes me think of George W Bush reincarnate…i don’t want another president who compomises with socialist, suicidal demo-rats, I want a president who is determined to defeat and destroy them!!
Will,
Hang in there. He’ll convince you!
Seriously, you should watch his Decade of Duty video clips. It describes his governorship in detail and is about 20 minutes or more in length. I think it is like 5 separate YouTube clips. Here is the link to those videos.