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News analysis: Huckabee's 'likability' gave him the edge over Romney
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In an extremely conservative state where two out of three votors are evangelicals a New England Mormon running against a Southern Baptist Preacher actually gets nearly a third of the vote.
Mr. Romney is doing incredably well.
Democrats are sure to get involved after seeing the success Republicans had in Iowa. I see them being used against Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton as follows: �Do you really want to see a black man as president?� and �Seriously, a woman president?��supported by what ever stereotypes the whispering attackers think will work. Whisper campaigns are what will drive shifts in the polls from one candidate to another�not �likeability� or a candidates qualifications and stance on issues. Sad.
I was on the fence until I watched the debates and listened to the snide, often rude comments made by Gov. Romney. He would only talk about his positions and facts as a mean to attack the other candidates. Completely unprofessional and it hurt him in the end.
Matt-Des Moines, IA
I am concerned that he will be the Republican version of Jimmy Carter, also a good man who allowed his vision of the world to hurt the USA.
Do I want a president who is an expert in fixing problems and making shrewd financial decisions that lead to saving money and growing business opportunities or do I want a charming, bass guitar playing Baptist minister?
Do I want a president who has a proven track record of successful negotiation and compromise of his positions with others who do not believe as he does or do I want a president who has doggedly stuck to his own beliefs, regardless of what others think or believe?
Tough question America. You make the call.
Romney managed a 60% turnout rate with his organization, which is a great turnout for the unpredictable caucuses.
But Huck managed to pull together a loose organization comprised of mainly evangelical churches to dupe Christians into voting for him, and that made all the difference.
Huckabee is a lousy Republican and an even more lousy conservative who is running on nothing more than identity politics - being a �Christian leader�. And the fact that that is enough to win in today�s Republican Party disgusts me. I don�t think this bodes well for the GOP, or conservatism, if Huck�s success becomes a trend. And I think it reflects badly on undiscerning Evangelicals who vote for a candidate for no other reason than he's part of their tribe.
Huckabee hasn't won anything by winning the Iowa Caucus. Iowa is a liberal state. Romney did well given the political demographics and Guliani and McCain paid little attention to it. The little covered fact was Huckabee garned the Baptist/evangelical vote....and the democrats fought it out...that all that happened. Huckabee will have to demonstrate he can go against the front runners....i.e. McCain, Guliani, Romney and Thompson in the many states to follow. The media is making too big of a thing out of Iowa and the upcoming New Hampshire vote in my opinion. The history of these two venues don not justify all the hoopla in the media. Let us give this process more time and see how this plays out.....please.
I am sad that Huckabee is rewarded for his faith and the way Romney has dealt with it, he will be punished.
So long MiTT. Go home to MA.
Curb the ego, Mitt.
And, of course, Huckabee has been two-faced regarding his handling of Romney's Mormon faith. When one labels one's self the "Christian" candidate, that casts a negative, dismissive glance on all the other candidates. It's amazing how Huckabee whined about Romney's "negative" campaigning, which straightforwardly illustrated policy differences in a non-personal way. (One of Huckabee's campaign leaders publicly wished to punch Romney out. How likeable!) Then Huckabee stood by and watched his surrogates mock Mormons while giving only a token denial of religious bigotry.
To non-evangelicals and even to some evangelicals, there is nothing likable about Huckabee's behavior.
Romney�s intelligence and experience clearly qualify him for the job. He does not need to oversell himself. He should focus on sincerity, the moral high ground and the personal likeability he has worked so hard the past year to establish.
When you play the game password and you are trying to get your teammate to say a word but you can't say the word. That was Huckabee's whole evangelizing rally. Evey thing he said was designed to have you thinking something negative about Mitt Romney without actually him actually saying the words "Mitt Romney" When the press got to question him they said how is Mitt Romney not supposed to take everything you say as negative? Then Huckabee said and I quote "They can think whatever they want"
To apply a religious test to a candidate for US President is a violation of the US Constitution.
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Romney will also be plagued by his abortion fiip flop in the conservative niche where he is playing. I think he would do far better going up against Giuliani in the moderate space and playing for independents as well. The evangelicals have apparently made their move for a minister (Huckabee) who will have a hard time appealing out of his base of 30%.