The media has been showing a lot of love to Huckabee lately, with an influential Iowa columnist showering a bit of love his way:
In recent days, that talk has escalated to a new level of buzz: Huckabee's doing so well in Iowa, he just might be able to win the Iowa Republican caucuses.
Like Huckabee, Romney is fond of telling people he ran and won in a Democratic state. It's also true Romney ran as a liberal on social issues such as gay rights and abortion. Had he taken the positions on those issues that he proclaims now, he never would have been elected in Massachusetts.
Huckabee, on the other hand, has been consistent, and GOP stalwarts are noticing that difference between the two men. Huckabee's rallied enough social conservatives to force Sam Brownback out of the race.But let's not get ahead of ourselves. As we chart Huckabee's success in the 2008 contest, it is most useful now to concentrate on his message. It is a positive, inclusive, good-humored one. As Republicans seek to rebuild from their defeat of 2006 and try to stave off a similar loss in 2008, they might study the Book of Huckabee.
"I'm a conservative, but I'm not mean about it," he tells audiences. He shows up at events with minority groups. His pro-life message also encompasses health care for poor women and a concern for children. His talk about education reform includes developing creative skills through art and music.Unlike some Republican presidential candidates, who grew up in well-to-do families, Huckabee tells audiences his mother grew up in a house with dirt floors, and on his father's side, he is the first male to graduate from high school. That seems to give him a populist bent - and an understanding for poor people - that isn't seen in the Ivy League conservatives.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly when or what got the media elite to jump on the Huckabee bandwagon. Maybe it's his down to earth demeanor or the attacks from Republican interest groups like Club for Growth that made them pay more attention. Or the cross party appeal that they once saw in another Arkansan who went on to win the White House. Angry liberals would never vote for him, but moderate Democrats silently uncomfortable with the idea of a woman as president may.
But his campaign is still broke and he can't go to the ATM like Romney. Consider that he has a smaller budget than some U.S. Senate candidates have in states with less media markets. And in a Republican primary, mainstream media on your side doesn't necessarily help with fund raising.
To his credit, he has assembled the best ground operation for dollars spent in Iowa of any candidate in either primary. But he has yet to run any television ads, and even when he does, he may be fighting a deluge of Romney and Thompson ads and wouldn't make a dent.
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