For one thing, unlike other candidates (both Democrat and Republican) Huckabee has the lightest schedule in these crucial last days. He’s been favoring photo-ops with press to meet-and-greets with voters. For instance, the day after Christmas instead of hunting for Iowa voters, Huckabee went hunting for pheasants.
New Year’s Eve – three days before the big event – Huckabee invited the press for an early morning run and a haircut and held a press conference in between (see below). Last night he did do some politicking when he gave a speech and played bass with the band at a New Year’s Eve bash for supporters at a Des Moines country club (his first big event in days). On average, Huckabee has been holding two or three events a day while mostly everyone else is averaging five or six.
Last Saturday, Huckabee was supposed to be holding an event at Signature Grill in Indianola at 1:00. When he changed the time to noon to better suit C-SPAN, many would-be attendees didn’t get the update (including myself) and were frustrated when they arrived to find that they couldn’t even step into the over-packed one room restaurant. One woman said that she had been undecided but her frustration with the event made Huckabee her last choice.
Another aspect of his strategy that appears a
little peculiar is his “good-guy” approach to attacking his closest opponent. Yesterday, 70 reporters crammed into a small banquet room at the Marriott in downtown Des Moines for a noon press conference. Around the room were placards that assailed Romney’s record and a banner behind the podium that read “Enough is enough!” Huckabee started by saying that he doesn’t agree with the negative tone the Romney campaign has taken, particularly with a recent barrage of attack ads against himself in Iowa and John McCain in New Hampshire. He said that he had produced an attack ad against the former Massachusetts governor but had a change of heart and was pulling the ad before it ever aired. Huckabee said that while “conventional political wisdom” says that you should “hit back” he is going to keep his campaign positive.
After going through his whole shpiel about keeping his campaign focused on why he should be president rather than why Mitt Romney should not be, Huckabee said, “I know some of you are saying ‘well did you really have an ad?’ I want to show you the ad so you get a chance to find out” at which point the room exploded in laughter. How bizarre! Essentially Huckabee was saying, “I’m not going to air the ad, I’m a good guy. However if I was going to air an attack ad, this is what I’d say.” Every journalist (and blogger like myself) could not believe this strange tactic. Either be the nice guy or be the mean guy. Either air the ad or kill the ad.
That evening at his New Year’s Eve bash Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, said that he could “sleep with peace in my heart that I know I’ve done the right thing even if it’s not the most politically conventional thing.” After hearing this, I couldn’t help but think of the sign on the side of Huckabee’s bus that says “Faith. Family. Freedom.” Is staying positive the right thing to do or the Christian thing to do? I’m not suggesting that they are mutually exclusive but I think this tactic of being the nice guy and taking the high road will mobilize Huckabee’s base of evangelical voters who dislike Romney and his Mormonism.
When I asked “Why Huckabee?” to Wanda Cowan, a middle aged woman from Indianola, she said “I like what he stands for, he’s not running a dirty campaign and he’s a Christian, that’s extremely important to us.” She said that she and her husband have only caucused once before but they can’t remember whom for but that this year they are motivated because they “want Christian people appointed in politics.”
Turning the other cheek is the Christian thing to do. Advertising to the world that you're turning the other cheek is the political thing to do. It's simply Huckabee’s way of mudslinging without getting his hands dirty.
1 comment:
I was one of the musicians playing in the band at the New Year's Eve event pictured in this item on Huckabee. (Unfortunately, I was sitting just outside of the frame of this picture... so no 15 minutes of fame for me). Governor Huckabee played three tunes with the band. Two of the tunes were simple blues forms, although not in the "easy" keys favored by garage bands. For the third tune, Governor Huckabee had to sight-read a moderately complex chord chart. He played the chart well, especially considering the circumstances - no rehearsal, an unfamiliar bass guitar, and 100 photographers snapping away.
I was impressed! But not so impressed that I am going to caucus for him.
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