McLaughlin & Associates Iowa Poll

McLaughlin & Associates conducted a survey of 500 likely Republican caucus voters in Iowa on August 20th and 21st, 2007. The poll has an accuracy of +/- 4.5%.

Mitt Romney 35
Rudy Giuliani 12
Fred Thompson 11
Mike Huckabee 11
Tom Tancredo 9
John McCain 7
Sam Brownback 2
Ron Paul 1
Duncan Hunter 1
Firm Undecided 10

http://www.one.org/polls/documents/ia/august/iowa_memo_0830.pdf

This poll was taken more than a week before the ARG poll.

Huckabee's Surging Poll Numbers

Hot off the press! Mike Huckabee has literally surged past Fred Thompson and John McCain!

American Research Group Iowa Caucus Poll, conducted August 26-29, 2007

Mitt Romney 26% (21% last month)
Rudy Giuliani 17% (22% last month)
Mike Huckabee 17% (1% last month)
Fred Thompson 13% (13% last month)
Newt Gingrich 7% (4% last month)
John McCain 4% (17% last month)
Duncan Hunter 1% (2% last month)
Ron Paul 1% (1% last month)

American Research Group New Hampshire Primary Poll, conducted August 26-29, 2007

Mitt Romney 27% (26% last month)
Rudy Giuliani 23% (27% last month)
John McCain 12% (10% last month)
Mike Huckabee 9% (1% last month)
Fred Thompson 8% (13% last month)
Newt Gingrich 4% (6% last month)
Ron Paul 3% (1% last month)

Republicans Only:
Rudy Giuliani 26%
Mitt Romney 24%
Mike Huckabee 12%
John McCain 10%
Fred Thompson 7%
Newt Gingrich 5%
Ron Paul 2%

American Research Group South Carolina Poll, conducted August 26-29, 2007

Rudy Giuliani 26% (28% last month)
Fred Thompson 21% (27% last month)
John McCain 12% (10% last month)
Mike Huckabee 9% (3% last month)
Mitt Romney 9% (7% last month)
Newt Gingrich 6% (7% last month)
Sam Brownback 2% (0% last month)
Ron Paul 2% (3% last month)
Tom Tancredo 1% (1% last month)

The candidates that dropped are italicized, with major drops of 5% or more underlined as well.

Thanks to race42008.com for this breaking story!

Huckabee Shines at Livestrong Forum

Here's a great article by Newsweek's Jonathon Alter.

Huckabee Stars as GOP Stumbles

Aug. 28, 2007 - On the second day of Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Presidential Cancer Forum, only two of the eight invited Republican candidates showed up—a reflection of some poor thinking in the GOP. But it didn’t matter too much. Attendees at the Cedar Rapids, Iowa event may look back at two “surges” that began here—one a boom in health care as a major campaign issue for Republicans; the other the emergence of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as a serious candidate for president.

The story of the no-shows tells you a lot about the state of the GOP. Some—like John McCain—had longstanding conflicts. But Mitt Romney was considered a likely guest until the last possible minute, then chose instead to speak at another cancer event, hastily scheduled this week by Republicans at the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research. The best explanation for Romney’s decision to stiff Armstrong is that he didn't want to face questions from co-moderator Chris Matthews about why he was running away from his innovative health care plan in Massachusetts. (The breast cancer event was a speech, not a Q and A).

Rudy Giuliani was also expected, but refused to return several calls from Armstrong personally about whether he would attend. The best guess is that Giuliani didn’t want to have to acknowledge his support for embryonic stem cell research in front of conservative Iowa caucus-goers. His own status as a prostate-cancer survivor was apparently not enough protection.
That left Sen. Sam Brownback and Huckabee. Brownback, himself a melanoma survivor, scored some points by emphasizing his efforts to ease the availability of experimental drugs for end-stage cancer patients, which the FDA continues to make difficult, at a cost of thousands of lives. My question: Why couldn't he get his bipartisan bill passed when his party controlled the Senate? And Brownback's continued support for "high-risk insurance pools" is just more of the same for Americans with pre-existing conditions. On top of cancer or other life-threatening illnesses, they have to pay three or four times as much for insurance, if they can get it at all. The only solution is to mandate a single risk pool for the entire country. But the insurance industry has bought and paid for too many legislators to allow that.

Brownback refused to be pinned down on cancer research funding. While all four Democrats who appeared Monday (plus Barack Obama) have pledged to at least double the $5 billlion in federal funds spent annually on cancer research, Brownback said he wanted to start with a pledge to end cancer deaths in ten years, then assess how much money would be required.
After he said it would require much more money, Matthews pounced. Where Democrats said they would fund their ambitious expansions of health-care funding by rescinding the tax cut for those making more than $200,000 a year and winding down the Iraq war, Brownback refused to make any tough choices, saying money could be saved with the equivalent of the military-base closing commission for the whole government. "If it could have been done so easily, it would have been done a long time ago. Presidents have to choose!" Matthews thundered.

Where Brownback was plodding and humorless, Huckabee was ambitious, fresh and amusing. He explained how he had lost 110 pounds, then set about transforming the health of the people in his state. Smoking is big in the South, so it is especially impressive that he got the Arkansas state legislature to ban all smoking in public places and workplaces. “It’s a work place safety issue, not just about bars and restaurants,” Huckabee noted. He also eliminated co-payments for colonoscopies, prostate tests and other screening, arguing that early detection will save the state billions. Considering that most states still don't require insurance companies to even cover colonoscopies—about the most pound-foolish policy imaginable—that's a real accomplishment.

Huckabee has a way of explaining things in ways people can relate to, and he received the most laughs and applause of the whole event. For example: "People today aren't eating food, they're eating 'food products'. You're better off throwing away the contents and eating the packaging. At least the cardboard has fiber."

He’s also the only candidate in either party who introduces truly fresh ideas I’ve never heard before. Some months ago, he launched the idea of federal funding for art and music programs, which he rightly says are necessary to help the U.S. keep its creative edge in global competition. And today Huckabee talked about a food-stamp program that would offer financial incentives for healthy choices, so that a dollar in food stamps would buy $1.25 worth of fruit and vegetables but only 75 cents worth of junk food. Worth a try.

Overall, Lance Armstrong and his foundation got something important going this week—a real conversation on cancer and health. Now it’s up to the candidates, the media and the public to keep it going.

© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.

Mike Huckabee Second in OKGOP poll

This from the OKGOP party's weekly e-mail.

Huckabee Makes Move in Latest OKGOP Poll

With 410 Republican votes cast, Fred Thompson was once again Oklahoma's top choice in our State Party online poll, but the margin has shrunk.

Thompson went from 46% to 38%. Rudy Giuliani, who received 16% in our first poll in April, came in third with 14%. The candidate who made the biggest jump was Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. Huckabee was under 7% in our first poll, but came in with 18% in our latest poll. Huckabee also made some noise in Iowa recently, coming in second behind Mitt Romney. Romney rounded out the top four in our poll with 13%. All other candidates in our poll received under 4%.

Mike Huckabee: the Hope for America

Greetings to the new OKforHuckabee blog!

First things first. The 2008 Presidential Election is going to be one of the most crucial races in our nation's recent history. That's why I'm supporting Mike Huckabee, the Hope for America.

Mike Huckabee is a strong conservative, with a proven record. He has demonstrated his bipartisan appeal with his gubernatorial elections in Arkansas. He's not afraid to stand up for what's right, and he's not afraid to be alone in doing so. As a former Southern Baptist pastor, he has strong morals, something found lacking in many politicians today.

Among the crowd of Republican presidential candidates, Mike Huckabee is the only true conservative that stands out. There are liberals, psuedo-conservatives, and people that belong in a totally different parties running for the Republican nomination. Please, make the right choice for our party, the right choice for our state, and the right choice for America. Let's make Oklahoma a Huckabee state. Vote for Mike Huckabee in the Republican Presidential Primary.

Visit http://www.mikehuckabee.com/ for more information on this outstanding candidate.

P.S. Be sure and check the Blog List on the left side of this page from time to time. I will be adding links to other great Huckabee bloggers as I find them.