Huckabee Rides a Wave of Economic Populism

As things stand today, who is best positioned to be the GOP presidential nominee? Cast your vote in the Nation Poll.

The Democratic debate was great entertainment, but the political news of the week comes the Republican race.

Two news polls from Iowa have former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee rapidly gaining on the longtime front-runner in that state's caucus contest, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Romney's poured millions into the state. But In the new American Research Group survey of likely Republican caucus-goers, he leads Huckabee by a meer 26-24 margin. A new The Research 2000 poll has Romney ahead by more -- 27-18 -- but Huckabee is again in second.

Huckabee's stills short on funds. And he's despised by the establishment -- the economic royalists at the Club for Growth are running an attack campaign against him while the National Right to Life Committee just endorsed former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, despite the fact that Huckabee's a far more consistent social conservative.

So why is Huckabee rising?

In tenuous economic times -- characterized by foreclosures, high gas prices and fears of recession -- the Arkansan is campaigning as a populist who criticizes corporations, talks about the need to change our trade policies and promises to tip the balance away from Wall Street and toward Main Street.

Huckabee's actually secured the endorsement of the Machinists union with that kind of talk. But the real breakthrough is with working-class socially conservative Republicans in Iowa. He's giving them an alternative to Tom Frank's "What's the Matter With Kansas?" scenario -- in which low- and middle-income Americans vote against their class interests in order to advance their "moral values."

No, Huckabee is not a perfect player -- his populism has serious limits, as does his approach to foreign policy, and his stances on abortion rights and gay rights are throwbacks. But Huckabee might just be the perfect foil to the corporate slickness of Mitt Romney. And that makes him the most fascinating figure on the campaign trail this week.

Comments (39)

1. Talk about non-electabilty, can you imagine saying "President Huckabee?" I didn't think so.

   Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudy was two nails in two coffins. Huckabee, a Baptist preacher, didn't get the endorsement - nail. Rudy, about as far away from the "values" Pat espouses got the endorsement - nail.

   hehehe

   Posted by FritztheCat at 11/16/2007 @ 10:45am

2. LOL....VP named "Cletus", Cabinet members Bubba, Jethro and Billy-Bob. ANd let's not forget the new President's "kinda slow" 2 cousin who lives in the camper on the White House lawn....

   Whenever I see the GOP debates, I want to put on "Send in the Clowns" as mood music.

   Posted by leftofcenter at 11/16/2007 @ 10:55am

3. oops... 2nd cousin (meant to hit preview before "post")

   Posted by leftofcenter at 11/16/2007 @ 10:56am

4. Interesting point, Mr Nichols...but here's a question

   If Huckabee can overcome the "royalists" in the GOP and start to rise in the polls, maybe threaten Romney....

   why can't Dennis Kucinich overcome the "anti-impeachment" guys among the Dems (or the "anti-single payer" guys), and atleast threaten Edwards, if not Obama or Her Nibs?

   Posted by Mask at 11/16/2007 @ 11:46am

5. Posted by MASK 11/16/2007 @ 11:46am

   maybe it's because the rrrrrrrrr's feel they've nothing to lose.

   or maybe it's because the dddddd's are going with a sure thing in order to safely end the bush dilemma.

   or maybe the ddddddddd's are just more superficial.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 11/16/2007 @ 12:12pm

6. I don't believe that Huckabee will be the Republican presidential nominee, but I believe that he has a good chance to get the VP spot. He would be especially effective in campaigning (only in campaigning - I don't believe that he is sincere) against Hillary in swing states on the issue of free trade.

   I know that part of the establishment argument for Hillary is that she has been vetted, but how many people are aware of the fact that Bill gets $200,000-$400,000 per speech from the same corporations that have made huge gains in their profits because of these agreements? How well will this go over in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, not to mention Kansas? In a recent WJS/NBC poll, "Six in 10 Republicans in the poll agreed with a statement that free trade has been bad for the U.S. and said they would agree with a Republican candidate who favored tougher regulations to limit foreign imports." I don't think that Hillary's statement about how she would introduce a moratorium on trade agreements if she is president is going to help her, especially after she votes for the Peru FTA.

   http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119144942897748150-6ZcxUFaS_LLm_O SBgIAhFnw7eKw_20081003.html?mod=rss_free

   Posted by Old Dem at 11/16/2007 @ 12:40pm

7. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 11/16/2007 @ 12:12pm

   Huckabee as the "GOP Bill Clinton"? Pulling them to the center (on economics) while holding up the old social con paradigm?....maybe.

   Democrats?!??!...superficial?!?!?!?.....I'm shocked! Shocked! That you would make such an allegation!

   Posted by Mask at 11/16/2007 @ 12:47pm

8. Posted by MASK 11/16/2007 @ 12:47pm

   just speculatin'

   Posted by frosty zoom at 11/16/2007 @ 1:04pm

9. Electability is a media invention. So long as people are honest with themselves and vote in primaries for who they think is best, our democracy just might survive. Do you smell the Bush in Giuliani? I do. Do you smell the Bill in Hillary? I think it's time to get some new folks in government with some new thinking. If Huckabee fits the image, who should care about his name? How very trivial we are.

   Posted by barnesgene at 11/16/2007 @ 1:26pm

10. Mike "Dukakis" Huckabee? As in you if you like Mike Dukakis, you'll looooove Mike Huckabee???

    Recall that Dukakis got a rough ride in 1988 for a law that he did not sign (his predessor, Republican Francis Sargeant did); moreover, in a specific case in which the gov played absolutely no role. Yet, with the Repugnant-subservient MSM's full colloboration, Lee Atwater re-cast Dukakis' running mate into...William Horton (as he was known -- the "Willie" was the Repugnant's way to n****r-fy him so that redneck hillbillies, the JO-MAMMORIES set, could tell who was who).

    Read on, from Max Brantley this week in Salon.com on Huckabee's moral relativism and Repugnant/RIO KORESH-style affection for rapists and killers. This is only the most salicious part of Huckabee's record that the Arkansas reporter discusses:

    Though DuMond's prior record included a conviction for assault and his alleged involvement in a slaying and one other rape, by the start of Huckabee's governorship DuMond had become a national figure thanks to Republican efforts to depict him as a victim of the Bill Clinton machine. The rape victim was a distant relative of Clinton's.

    Huckabee, perhaps persuaded by DuMond's supposed conversion to Christianity, announced his intention to commute DuMond's sentence without talking to the victim. Outraged, she stepped forward to protest publicly. The backlash was swift and powerful. Huckabee backed away from commuting DuMond's sentence, but in a private meeting lobbied the state Parole Board to release him. Huckabee said, in writing, that he supported DuMond's release. DuMond moved to Missouri in 2000, where he molested and killed one woman and was suspected of doing the same to another, but died in prison before he could be charged in the second case.

    To this day, Huckabee tries to minimize his responsibility for DuMond's release. Huckabee's 2007 book "From Hope to Higher Ground" also fudges the facts, implying that DuMond died before being convicted of either Missouri murder. In one recent interview, he even suggested that he had fought DuMond's parole, a statement his own writings prove to be a lie.

    Posted by John_Shaft at 11/16/2007 @ 1:37pm

11. Mike "Dukakis" Huckabee? As in you if you like Mike Dukakis, you'll looooove Mike Huckabee???----Posted by JOHN_SHAFT 11/16/2007 @ 1:37pm

    Uh, SHAFT, you DO realize that there were a lot of liberals who defended Dukakis on that Horton/furlough thing....right?

    Posted by Mask at 11/16/2007 @ 2:27pm

12. isnt huckleberry also an "inteluhjunt deeziner"?

    here's a link to one of the best nova's ever on pbs...

    creationism [tinyurl.com]

    i'm sorry, but any moron that even flirts with that patent bigotted stupidity, even just to corral some stupid christ-fascist luddite votes, drops off my list of people to remotely consider as qualified to lead a country...

    "duh...i didnt come frum no munky!" "sir, i would never deign to so insult a monkey..."

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 11/16/2007 @ 2:49pm

13. I heard on Yahoo today that Snow White was fired from Disney Studios today. She was caught sitting naked on Pinicchio's nose screaming "Lie, Mutha Fucker, Lie"!!

    This joke was not intended to offend anyone anywhere in anyway at any time in any manner ever. If you've never heard it may it brighten your day. If you've already heard it tough shit-deal with it.

    Long Live TR

    Chip :)

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 11/16/2007 @ 4:24pm

14. Posted by RIO BRAVO 11/16/2007 @ 4:20pm

    u a fred man?

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON 11/16/2007 @ 4:24pm |

    nasal sex!

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 11/16/2007 @ 4:26pm

15. Not really Ibble, don't know who I want this time. I'd invite Mariska Hargatay home for dinner anytime though.

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 11/16/2007 @ 4:34pm

16. I had hopes for Fred, but he doesn't seem to want the job or he can't get any press..something is wrong here.

    Posted by JOMAMMA 11/16/2007 @ 7:38pm

    not at all.

    he's dumb.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/16/2007 @ 8:48pm

17. I'm still betting on Romney coming back.

    And LVLIB being beside himself choosing between letting Hillary win...and letting one of them "heretic" Mormans become President!

    Posted by Mask at 11/16/2007 @ 8:55pm

18. Posted by MASK 11/16/2007 @ 8:55pm

    cool,

    gonna make a fortune on that brylcreem stock.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 11/16/2007 @ 9:24pm

19. Uh, SHAFT, you DO realize that there were a lot of liberals who defended Dukakis on that Horton/furlough thing....right?

    Posted by MASK 11/16/2007 @ 2:27pm

    MASK,

    You will notice above that I stated above that the furlough law was enacted under Dukakis' GOP predecessor, Francis Sargeant. Furthermore, Horton was sentenced for a crime committed in 1974; Dukakis' first term began in January 1975 and he later tightened the furlough laws enacted by Sargeant after the Horton case.

    Also notice the origins of the phrase: "if you like Mike Dukakis, you'll looooove Mike Huckabee??? (Posted by JOHN_SHAFT 11/16/2007 @ 1:37pm). It was a slogan used during James Courter's 1990 run for Gov of NJ against James Florio (in which the Dem, Florio, mopped the floor with Courter). I use it here as a taunt against the self-appointed "values voting" assClowns like RIO KORESH and JO-MAMMORIES who would vote for Musharraf, Mobotu, Joe Stalin, OBL, Pinochet, Pol Pot (etc) -- or in this case, Suckabee -- if any one of them would only ran under the banner of "family values" Repugnants.

    Posted by John_Shaft at 11/17/2007 @ 12:09pm

20. Posted by JOHN_SHAFT 11/17/2007 @ 12:09pm

    And my point was, just as Dukakis had his folks who tried to "explain" Willy Horton....so will Huckabee.

    BTW, your "and he later tightened the furlough laws enacted by Sargeant after the Horton case" is wrong...

    "After the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that this right extended to first-degree murderers, the Massachusetts legislature quickly passed a bill prohibiting furloughs for such inmates. However, in 1976, Governor Dukakis vetoed this bill."---wikipedia.org

    The Mass legislature wanted to stop furloughs for inmates such as Horton...Dukakis vetoed that bill....not "tightened it".

    Posted by Mask at 11/17/2007 @ 1:21pm

21. MASK,

    "After the Horton case" means after Horton jumped furlough which occurred in the 1980s.

    Do not know if wikipedia mentions this but, didja' know that ...

    * The guy who produced the Horton commercials about "revolving door prisons", Republican Dennis Frankenberry, was a convicted of 2 felonies for drunk driving that seriously injured (almost killed) two people -- and that he fled the scene of the carnage?

    * Most states and the federal penal system had furlough programs similar to MA at the same time in which in a very small number of cases (much less than 1 percent), the convicts had jumped the furlough -- and in an even smaller number of cases had comitted crimes?

    * That Horton would have been furlough eligible under contemporaneous Reagan-Bush federal prison rules?

    The above was gleaned from the extended discussion in Chapter 1 of K.H. Jamieson's DIRTY POLITICS, published 1992 by Oxford University Press.

    Finally ... if Suckabee's supporters want to rant and rave at length about Suckabee's HANDS ON ADVOCACY for DuMond's rape & murder sprees: Let Them. Bring It On! May They Go On At Greeeeeaaaaat Length About It with Much Heavy Breathing From the Mouth and Delusions Most Vivid !!!

    Perhaps they may even be able to get around to "implicating" another ex-Arkansas governor in the matter, perhaps even Jimmy Carter as well ...

    Posted by John_Shaft at 11/17/2007 @ 1:40pm

22. Willie Horton, the scapegoat. Although racist, and therefore not to be gainsaid, isn't this smearing tactic the same as the Swift Boat attacks and both therefore a part of the "gotcha" politics which have made adversaries of just about all except members of the same choirs/denominations/sects.

    Posted by lewwelge at 11/17/2007 @ 4:06pm

23. Huckabee? My take is that he knows how utterly loony the Duncan Hunters of the world sound, so he's developed a "rap" to give the appearance of rationality to his presentation of the same old rightist stuff. (Don't know how much is calculation and how much is just his style.) I made an effort to listen carefully and found there's no depth there; he starts repeating himself after a few sentences. I have no idea what a GOPer would feel about him. All they care about is winning, by hook or crook. I doubt Huckabee is their man. But who'd have thought they'd run with Dubya?

    Posted by RLawrence at 11/17/2007 @ 6:17pm

24. Au contrair, RLAWRENCE, Dubya is the perfect neocon/fundamentalist with the superficially/hypocritically messianic avarice compensating for the years of youthful playboyesque excess. Remember that "decadent" was a term of praise to many proto-hypercapitalist cocaine abusers of the 80's.

    Posted by lewwelge at 11/17/2007 @ 7:05pm

25. Posted by JOHN_SHAFT 11/17/2007 @ 1:40pm

    I know it wasn't "fair" to Dukakis....but you were arguing that Dukakis was somehow "innocent" of the whole thing.

    Sure, such furloughs could be blamed on a lot of governors (Dem AND Repub)....but the fact is that Dukakis did have responsibility for what happened on his watch (and he DID veto the Mass State House bill to terminate such furloughs).

    So it was factual, if unfair. But it played perfectly into a stereotype (fair or unfair) of "liberals who care more about criminal's rights than victims".

    Posted by Mask at 11/17/2007 @ 7:40pm

26. It was the Democratic presidential candidate, Michael Dukakis, who took the seemingly fatal political "hit" by previously presiding as Massachussets governor over the Black Willie Horton's parole and subsequent crime(s), thereby eliciting furor/condemnation as being "soft" on crime/criminals, I recall.

    Posted by lewwelge at 11/18/2007 @ 11:19am

27. Posted by JOMAMMA 11/18/2007 @ 10:37am

    Gore's hands weren't clean, MAASCH, you're right.

    Though technically he was just starting in on the furloughs in general, and not the specific Horton case.

    But again, you're right. He was spreading the story during the '88 Dem primaries, and Lee Atwater took the ball and ran with it.

    And yes, again, Gore apologists refuse to acknowledge it. Ask HSUBFOOLS.

    Posted by Mask at 11/18/2007 @ 2:04pm

28. Posted by MASK 11/17/2007 @ 7:40pm

    As I already said ... if you love Mike Dukakis inheriting the furlough bill from his Republican predecessor, et cetera, you will love Mike Huckabee having his fingerprints all over DuMond's exit from prison to rape and kill. It is a simple fact.

    And might think that after Horton, Huckabee would know better.

    So we have gone from "Tippacoanoe and Tyler too" and a "Chicken in every pot" to ... "Huckabee-DuMond '08: A Murderer-Rapist Lurking in Every Backyard, with the Gov's Signature and Blessing".

    Whatta slogan for the Repugnants!

    Posted by John_Shaft at 11/19/2007 @ 08:44am

29. Posted by JOMAMMA 11/18/2007 @ 10:37am

    Posted by MASK 11/18/2007 @ 2:04pm

    JO-MAMMORIES,

    Gore rode Willie Horton to the WH? Explain the revisionist history.

    Gore, and not Lee Atwater, focus-grouped madly until hitting upon Horton as the secret electoral weapon?

    This is up there with JO-MAMMORIES's wild-eyed freakery about the Vince Foster "assassination".

    But, wait, there's more: JO-MAMMORIES has of course choked on his boobies before about Gore. Everyone should remember his orthodox dittohead outburst about Lt Col North waving a finger in Gore's face about bin Laden in 1987: A total fucking lie and fabrication, as North has himself pointed out on his own stationary. But JO-MAMORIES waddles in here, his boobage swinging like pendulums, and imitates what other rightwing liars have stated like the useless dittohead that he is.

    Are you going to recant, JO-MAMMORIES, on what North actually said to Congress? Issue a correction and an apology for repeating a flat out howler of a lie? Are you going to admit that you repeat, like a monkey, the lines that rightwing liars feed to you -- and apologize for it?

    Posted by John_Shaft at 11/19/2007 @ 08:54am

30. Posted by JOHN_SHAFT 11/19/2007 @ 08:54am

    First, yes. You'd think Huckabee would have already done what you're supposed to do with such "scandals" and gotten ahead of this incident before it arose. He blew it.

    Second...note, I didn't say Gore came up with "Willy Horton". He merely started the ball rolling with research into Dukakis and the furlough program. It WAS Atwater who took the ball and ran with it with Horton. But, like Huckabee, that was Dukakis' fault.

    If he had gotten it out "early and often" as the Clintons learned, it might have weathered it; he surely would have done better when it was raised.

    But Gore's involvement in raisiing "furloughs" is played down by his supporters, because it wasn't as focused as the Horton ad (which really never ran much, it was just picked up by the Media).

    But Al 1.0's hands weren't clean of it.

    Posted by Mask at 11/19/2007 @ 09:06am

31. Posted by JOMAMMA 11/19/2007 @ 10:11am

    That is exactly what I was hoping JO-MAMMORIES would say.

    Just to fill everyone in here: JO-MAMMORIES has been caught repeating the bald-faced lie that North warned Gore about bin Laden during the 1987 hearings -- when Gore was not even on the committee and North was talking about someon else entirely, as North has himself clarified in very clear terms.

    JO-MAMMORIES refuses to apologize for his bare-knuckled, thuggish assualt on the truth, preferring to remain indefinately incarcerated in the prison of alienation from the reality-based community.

    Oh well, off to create more jobs and earn obscene profits

    Given JO-MAMMORIES relation to the truth -- he has in fact had previous difficulties stating his year of birth with any consistency -- we may take this to mean: "Oh well, off to THE DROVE-THRU WINDOW to create more HAPPY MEAL VICTIMS and earn obscene profits FOR THE FAMOUS CLOWN WHO COMMANDS MY FLESH" ...

    Posted by John_Shaft at 11/19/2007 @ 11:01am

32. Huckabee is taking a page out of Lou Dobbs'play book with regard to "Free Trade". As Mask noted, Kucinich also does not like "Free Trade", which is my main reason for supporting him. This is not a "left" or "Right" issue. It is a national issue for Americans who seek to restore jobs and industries in America. As a Hamiltonian protectionist, I want tariffs too! THERE IS NO DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT TARIFFS.

    Posted by P. J. Casey at 11/19/2007 @ 12:03pm

33. Posted by P. J. CASEY 11/19/2007 @ 12:03pm

    Here's the problem at this point, PJ.

    Your average "working family" is saving upto $2500 by shopping at ol' Wally World (Wal-mart). Cut in a 25% tariff on Chinese imports and suddenly their disposable income drops into NEGATIVE numbers.

    How do you make up for that? Not "long term" (the only time-frame that tariffs and "re-industrialization of the USA" works in)...but for 5-7 years it takes for American manufacturers to compesate and start producing the same items and paying wages that allow for their purchase?

    Posted by Mask at 11/19/2007 @ 12:11pm

34. Posted by JOMAMMA 11/19/2007 @ 12:58pm

    For a guy who is "busy", saving the world like a martyr at the Drive-Thru window, JO-MAMMORIES has a lot of time to blog.

    But let's make it educational for him and worth his time.

    JO-MAMMORIES calls himself a libertarian. Yet, anyone who knows what a libertarian is knows that under its classically liberal doctrines, free speech is sacrosanct, the very base of libertarianism.

    So, the "libertarian" JO-MAMMORIES's resposne to the bridge players being stifled in Shanghai? He literally said of these speech martyrs: "B(ig)F(ucking)D(eal)".

    JO-MAMMORIES has had some dim sense that something is not right and has attempted, crudely, to correct it by calling himself a "conservative libertarian". That's a bald contradiction in terms, an oxymoron. But given his enthusiasms for kicking down speech, invasions and occupations, and for torture, we can suggest a new term to apply to JO-MAMMORIES.

    JO-MAMMORIES is a fascistarian.

    Posted by John_Shaft at 11/19/2007 @ 1:23pm

35. BTW, think there's a fundamental flaw in Mr Nichols' thinking....

    Huckabee isn't JUST the only "economic populist" in the GOP crowd...he's also the only one who's "pure" on "pro-life". Giuliani isn't. Romney wasn't. Thompson, despite his voting record, lobbyied for Planned Parenthood.

    It's possible THAT is the reason for his rise...not that he's William Jennings Bryan on economics...but on abortion!

    Posted by Mask at 11/19/2007 @ 5:01pm

36. I believe Kucinich could best mediate the conflict between Shaft and Jo-Mammaries, not to mention be the most articulate presidential candidate since Clinton, but with less libido and more sublimation.

    Posted by lewwelge at 11/19/2007 @ 5:48pm

37. Posted by LEWWELGE 11/19/2007 @ 5:48pm

    I dunno Lew...you see his old lady? Little feller must be sporting a tripod.

    Posted by leftofcenter at 11/19/2007 @ 11:15pm

38. and little else.

    Posted by JOMAMMA 11/19/2007 @ 8:27pm

    Hey JO-MAMMORIES,

    I think that you long ago became heinously dull and coma-inducing boring to all people -- including, most disasterously and tellingly, even yourself. You really are a broken record, farting around in a circle with the same lame-assed "comebacks" and gassy, monosyllabic commentaries stenographisized from Dittohead precincts.

    As you are so predictable, here's some rancid red meat to excite you:

    * Tell us again all about Ollie North pointing at Gore at that 1987 hearing that you said you saw the "video" of (even though -- heh heh -- it never happened !!!). Perhaps you should stick with the kind of video that Clarence "Long Dong Uncle" Thomas enthuses over.

    * What's the latest on the Vince Foster assassination? What was Chelsey's role? Tell us all about the clues you've found.

    * What bills are you going to dump next onto someone else to pay while you lard-ass out of the restaurant? The cost of invading Iraq, which had as much to do with 9-11 as Norway? Nascent global warming? As the neoClowns whom you obediently rim make a living trying to stiff other people with the 13 digit cost of shit-for-brains nonsense, we look toward your orthodox dribblings and silent but deadly puncuations on this issue with interest ...

    Posted by John_Shaft at 11/20/2007 @ 2:26pm

39. Posted by JOMAMMA 11/20/2007 @ 10:40pm

    OK, MAMMORIES, on the topic of your and the neoClowns's habit of making other people pay the bill for your collosal, Historic-sized (perhaps History altering) fuck-ups:

    Tell us why in fuck we all should pay for the shit-for-brains invasion and occupation of Iraq ($2 billion/week), something that you obseqiously supported and have regularly denied has pulled civilians and US forces alike into the vortex of death? An invasion and occupation that, at the same time, you have been too chickenshit to do more than follow the cheerleaders cheers for it?

    Fucking useless kook.

    Posted by John_Shaft at 11/21/2007 @ 10:39am