Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was in Nashville yesterday to speak to about 40,000 hunters gathered for the National Wild Turkey Federation convention. The local Sunday daily had no coverage of Huckabee's speech, although they did mention the turkey hunters' convention in a story about anti-hunters and anti-meat-eaters trying get hunting banned.
Huckabee, also a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, also appeared at a small invitation-only reception at the Nashville home of Terry Saltsman, brother of Huckabee's campaign manager Chip Saltsman, former chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. The event was as well-attended as a similar gathering for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Nashville area several weeks ago. Among the Tennessee elected officials and others there: state Rep. Susan Lynn, state Rep. Glen Casada, state Sen. Jack Johnson (who hosted the aforementioned Romney reception), Tennessee political bloggers Adam Groves and Jay Bush, Tennessee Republican Party Executive Director Chris Devaney, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey's chief of staff Matt King, Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Bob Davis.
I have a couple of video clips from the reception but am having trouble getting them off my cellphone. While you await that scintillating video-bloggage, here's a video of Huckabee and Saltsman on YouTube. YouTube also has a video of Huckabee discussing blogs, and several other Huckabee clips.
Huckabee didn't talk about blogs during the Nashville reception, but he did talk - effectively, I think - about a number of issues. Having listened to him, I'm not sure why Huckabee, governor of Arkansas for more than a decade and before that a Baptist pastor and head of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, hasn't been embraced by more conservatives. Maybe it's just too early for most people to even be thinking about the presidential race.
See also: Huckabee's website, the unofficial Huckabee for President blog, and the Huckabee Wikipedia entry.
Cross-posted from BillHobbs.com. Photo credit: Bill Hobbs.
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