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The Huckabee Flack

By pharrell

The fact that the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal ran virtually identical stories Sunday about Mike Huckabee's 1992 comments on AIDS and alleged assistance in getting a convicted rapist paroled was the first sign the Arkansan's opponents were taking him seriously: when that kind of story breaks in multiple places at once, it is because a rival campaign plants it, not because of some sudden insight on the part of the reporters. Then, in a space of 48 hours, we learn that an unidentified rival campaign has already sent out a faux protector to begin picketing Huck's events wearing a prison uniform; an "independent" group has begun dropping anti-Huckabee leaflets outside of Huckabee events; and that Romney has hit the airwaves with the first real "contrast" ad of the 2008 cycle, lighting into Huckabee for his past reluctance to deny illegal immigrants every possible government service. It'll be interesting to see how Huckabee's relatively green campaign deals with attacks, and I predict that their response over the next two weeks will seal his fate. If he can't get out ahead of the scandalettes, his 15 minutes will be over. If he survives this storm he and his minions will be tougher for the battle, and will have proven that he truly merits consideration as a top contender for the GOP nod.

P.S. It says something about GOP despair this cycle that Huckabee went from nowhere to a 2:1 lead in Iowa and a strong second in the national polls in the space of about a month. I don't mean to knock Huckabee (in my mind, he's a solid candidate); I just mean to say that voters on that side of the aisle are clearly failing to bond with their party's candidates.

Full post as published by Harrell Blog on December 10, 2007 (boomark / email).