Huckabee’s star keeps rising
November 28th, 2007 – 11:31 PM by Dennis J. McGrathJust a few months ago, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee shared the anonymity of the handful of other back-of-the-pack Republican presidential candidates. In recent weeks, he’s registered a stunning climb in the polls.
Mike Huckabee |
And after Wednesday night’s You Tube/CNN debate, he’s bound to get another huge boost — perhaps enough to propel him to victory in Iowa.
He had what appears, at least in the immediate aftermath, to have been a breakthrough performance. He was articulate, funny, homespun and perhaps more than any other candidate he exuded a confidence and sense of comfort in who he is and what he believes. (John McCain and Fred Thompson came close behind.)
Perhaps Huckabee struggled a bit to explain his support for scholarships for children of illegal aliens. But after that he scored on virtually every question. He was direct and unapologetic and registered high on the likeability scale.
Mitt Romney may have fared the worst. He’s already suspect among many Republicans for his evolution on key issues. And his performance could not have helped any in allaying those concerns. He stumbled, stammered and didn’t seem to know what he believed on some key issues, and at times his first instinct seemed to be to duck and weave.
Some other observations:
I’ll take the citizen-submitted video format and Anderson Cooper over Wolf Blitzer and Tim Russert any day.
Even so, while the questions were generally good, this batch of videos wasn’t as creative or surprising as the batch used in the Democratic debate.
I was surprised they didn’t use Minnesota’s Billiam the Snowman, given that this debate almost didn’t happen because of opposition to Billiam.
I was disappointed that they didn’t use a Red State Update video question, as they did in the Democratic debate. Those guys are hilarious. To see their work, go to their website here.
But this video, I thought, did stand out.
So what did you think of the debate? Do you think Huckabee will get the biggest bounce? And what did you think of Thompson submitting an attack ad for his own video? What else caught your attention?
6 Responses to "Huckabee’s star keeps rising"
Mike Huckabee won hands down and Mitt Romney looked very indecisive. Anderson Cooper let Giuliani off the hook regarding his escapades to the Hampton’s to see his girlfriend when he was still married.
I’m a gun owner; however the boy with his toy attitude and the unsaid intimidation at the end of the gun rights video question doesn’t help the pro-gun position.
Very poor questions, and poor video.
They should have talked about issues.
Did not think this debate was done as
well as the former debate by the other
party. They still are following the
BUSH line, and can’td think for themselves, too bad.
McMemo should do a little digging into the story in yesterday’s paper about Dick Day’s trip to the border. What advocacy group is encouraging him (and possibly others) to go on such trips? Who’s paying? Is this something state-wide, nation-wide or limited to MN-1? Are Minnesotans up in arms over this issue, or is it limited to people who get their news from talk radio? I think there’s a bigger story here than just Dick Day’s challenge to Rep Walz.
But first, let’s get to the bottom of the Mark Ritchie scandal.
I didn’t see the debate–I just read the CNN transcript–which reminds you how little actual content you’re going to get out of events like these.
Notice Mr. McGrath’s observations about who won, who lost. The comments about the winner–Huckabee–are mostly about his *affect* (”articulate”, “funny”). The comments about the “loser,” Romney, are also about *his* affect (”stumbled, stammered, duck and weave”).
I guess it is helpful to know someone’s affect under pressure and their “likeability.” But you’re not gonna learn much about who they really are or what they really plan to do on the basis of how they come off on camera–are you?
Most of the answers are pablum–look at the ones about the war. The nut, Ron Paul, is the only one who seemed willing to commit to any kind of a definite plan–the rest talked blather about how it was “important that we not lose”–no specifics, no broad strategy outlined to win–not even from McCain, who has made the war his issue. So the only thing you “learn” from this kind of questioning and debate is that most of the candidates are willing to commit firmly to the latest position held by the most conservative focus groups–the voter demographic they need to capture to stay in the race.
Again–almost all cases, you’re not going to remember what they said or what they stand for or why one of them is actually superior to their opponents in terms of leadership qualities. What you’re likely to be most impressed by is whether you “like” them or not–same as a high school student council election. The fact that you “like” someone better doesn’t mean he is qualified or competent to hold the most important job in the country.
The moments I live for at political debates are the down-in-flames gaffes–for example, the machine gun fire between Romney and Giuliani over who loves illegal immigrants the most. It’s moments like that that can make it worth my while to tune in to this, but it’s not worth wading through all the pablum in hope of seeing that. The media will tell me about it next day, and they’ll also tell me who most likeable.
By the way, an informal and unscientific poll on the Daily Kos also named Huckabee as the winner of the debate–and the Kos audience hates him.
“bsimon says:
November 30th, 2007 at 10:47 am
But first, let’s get to the bottom of the Mark Ritchie scandal.”
I didn’t post that.