Do you think that Huckabee would be the Dems dream candidate?

[book_worm]

*His assertions about AIDS in '92
*His belief that creation trumps over evolution
*His pardon of a convicted rapist who later went out and raped again.
*His belief that he is "God's Candidate" in the race for president.
*His signing a newspaper ad which asserted that "women should submit to the authority of their husbands."

Now this is the fundies dream candidate and the pundits believe that they are what "won" Bush the 2004 election, but this guys seems beyond even Bush. It seems to me that all the top GOP candidates have Achilles heels.

[TwilightGardener]

1. Shhh, they're catching on. According to a Dr**ge leak, the DNC wants

us to hold our fire.

[SteppingRazor]

2. No. On the contrary, he's one of the candidates that worries me the most.

A Huckabee nomination would reinvigorate the religious right, a large swath of conservative voters that could very well stay home if someone like Giuliani wins the nomination.

[bryant69]

4. And I think he has strong points on the lickability factor

Particularly paired up against Hillary Clinton. He worries me.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[SteppingRazor]

10. Also a fine point. Huckabee definitely has the indefinable "it."

People just like him, no matter how religio-crazy he may be. Why do you think he's now the frontrunner in many polls, while the other right-wing Christian nutter in the race, Sam Brownback, skidded to the side of the road weeks ago?

Both Huckabee and Brownback have very similar views. But only with Huckabee have voters been willing to overlook the crazy.

[book_worm]

5. On the other hand wouldn't he turn off independents who may be fiscally conservative and socially

liberal?

[SteppingRazor]

9. Moot point. If they're truly socially liberal and fiscally conservative, they're already turned off

The Bush administration has already resulted in a lot of libertarian types fleeing the GOP -- what few remained in the first place. In general, the socially liberal fled the Republican party a long time ago.

What I think you're really meaning to ask is, what about independents who are fiscally conservative and socially don't-give-a-fuck?

That is, what about your stereotypical white-collar yuppie who doesn't give a damn about abortion (unless he gets his mistress pregnant, in which case he suddenly turns pro-choice for the next 24 hours), gays, or any of the other social factors, but wants taxes to remain ultra-low?

The obvious answer there is, they'll hold their nose and vote for Huckabee, no matter how crazy they think he is, because they believe he'll be good for their bottom line.

Overall, there are very few independents who vacillate between the Democratic and Republican parties. Getting out the vote matters far more than convincing a few sheep to switch sides. This is something Republicans learned a long time ago, but that Democrats still tend to struggle with. For the GOP, those millions of evangelicals matter a lot more than the few people that could actually be convinced to switch from Dem to GOP with a Giuliani nomination. Unfortunately, a lot of Dems still suffer under the notion that we need to be more moderate, or even more conservative, to try to steal votes form the GOP. This is stupid and wrong. If anything, we need to be more liberal, to drive liberals to vote.

The GOP already knows this, in vice versa. That is, to win elections, they need to be conservative, to drive conservatives to vote. A Huckabee nomination will do that. A Giuliani nomination won't.

[Angela Shelley]

3. No, because there are alot of voters who were relieved

to hear that he has divine assistance.

[patrice]

6. self - delete nt

[L. Coyote]

7. Watch how all this changes if he has to appeal to the whole nation, instead of the BASE.

This works great to get money, volunteers, and move up the R side. Then, you change the color of your horse to win the election.

[Lasher]

8. I'm still hoping they'll be stupid enough to nominate Ron Paul.

If the comedy writers' strike is still going on, the jokes will have to write themselves.

[RiverStone]

11. At first glace yes, but...

Even though the Huckster is batshit crazy, he does have a folksy way about him similar to Shrub's good ol boy appeal.

I would not under estimate how stupid some puke folks in the red states are. They pay attention to little other then RW talking points and if Huckabee quotes a few lines from scripture which remind them of church --- thats enough.

I'd like to think he would be easy to beat (see the recent polls showing Edwards beating him by 25 points posted on DU today); and yet, some folks can be so fucking stupid!

[OHdem10]

12. Activists, keep in mind the rank and file citizens, Jane and Joe

SixPack do not read this list against Huckabee the same way an
activist does. Many Americans will not see these things as far
out as we might.

I cannot believe America will elect a Baptist Minister. Next
time will we have a Catholic Priest, then A Rabbi, then a High
Anglican Priest. As a Catholic I find this jarring. This is
in no way is to say I am anti-Religion. Render unto God what is
God's and to Caesar what is his. To me, there is a world of difference
between a person of faith and a Minister running for President.
I do not believe this what the Founding Father's had in mind.

[pansypoo53219]

13. NO!

georgie had similar crap< in his background. if the teevee gnews decide they LUV fuckabee, they will ignore it.[br />JUST SAY NO!

[Island Blue]

14. Nope.

I think of all of the Republican candidates, he has the best chance of winning the general election. With the right packaging and the media support he's sure to get, I think he will appeal to a lot of voters (and not just the batshit crazy kind). From my observation, most voters don't bother to scratch the surface when choosing who to vote for.

This guy scares the hell out of me, and it would be a huge mistake (should he win the nomination) for the Democratic nominee to take him lightly.