Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee believes Iowa Republicans planning on participating in the Iowa caucuses early in '08 will, as the Sioux City Journal puts it, "take a good look at his campaign even as the media focuses on so-called front-runners."
Huckabee campaigned in Ames and Story City before officially opening his Des Moines campaign headquarters, an event he said proves he plans "to stay and to play" in Iowa.
But Huckabee concedes he's still looking for a way to break from a sizeable pack of lesser-known candidates. "Accompanying Paris Hilton to jail might work," Huckabee joked. He criticized the media's coverage, or lack of coverage, of the presidential race.
Huckabee says that when the media does cover the race it spends too much time focusing on so-called front-runners, but he eloeves . So far, that group includes former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Huckabee believes - and fervently hopes - that early focus on cash-flush "celebrity" candidates will soon yield to a broader, tougher appraisal by actual Republican voters."People from around the country began realizing that we do have a choice," Huckabee said. "Our choices are not the three doors on Let's Make a Deal, A, B and C. There are other doors.
"I think that's when Republican voters become much more discriminating. And they're going to be asking tougher questions," Huckabee said. Voters' questions, Huckabee insisted, likely will be better than those asked during recent GOP primary debates. Huckabee pointed out that the last three debates included no questions about education, and a recent New Hampshire forum included no questions on tax policy. Huckabee's calls for education and tax reform are centerpieces of his campaign.
Huckabee told the Sioux City Journal that the Rpublican Party's August 11 Ames straw poll may not be much help to his campaign because McCain and Giuliani are skipping the event, potentially reducing its importance on the road to January's Iowa caucuses.
I can't believe Huckabee actually thinks that. The truth is, by skipping the event McCain and Giuliani have lowered the Ames straw poll's value to Romney, but raised the value of the event for the rest of the GOP field mired in single digits in the polls. With McCain and Giuliani - and all-but-announced candidate Fred Thompson - skipping Ames, that leaves Romney as the only "major" candidate competing in the event. It also means that the seven single-digit candidates can now at least dream of rising out of that pack by beating expectations in Ames. How they do that is simple: Don't lose to Romney by a big margin.
The Huckabee campaign is salivating over the chance to break out of the pack by with a strong showing in the Ames straw poll.
Other recent Huckabee coverage: Huckabee's Appeal Doesn't Help Presidential Bid - NPR
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