Fox News political analyst Dick Morris thinks there were two winners of the May 15 Republican presidential debate in South Carolina: Rudy Giuliani and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Enter Arkansas' Mike Huckabee with a stellar debate performance.
When Huckabee compared Democratic spending to John Edwards at a hair salon, he cracked everyone up. When he spoke of the commitment to human life that animates us when hikers are lost on Mt. Hood, or miners are stuck in a coal mine, or a child is lost in the woods, and compared it with our lack of concern for the fetus in the womb, he spoke to the heart of the conservative viewers.
But, beyond his substance, Huckabee (disclosure: a former client) showed an ability to turn a phrase that ranks with Reagan and Clinton. He was able to communicate so well that he stood out in the pack.
Huckabee has a long way to rise, and Romney has a long way to fall, before the Arkansan could become "The Great Right Hope" — but he is doing very well in the early going of the quarter final.
Huckabee is impressive in small-group meetings, the kind that are the hallmark of early-primary-season campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire. He'd stand a better chance if the field wasn't so big.
If I weren't already on deck for Fred Thompson, Huckabee would be my candidate. Too bad he's not a good geographic fit as a VP for Thompson (unlike Romney who as a VP delivers swaths of the Rocky Mountain West, as well as making inroads in the NE, while Fred carries the south and makes inroads in Ohio and the upper midwest of all places.).
Posted by: Ordinary Coloradan | May 20, 2007 11:03 PM | Permalink to Comment