October Challenge from OKforHuckabee

I was going to wait for October 1st to unveil this, but it was too good of an idea for me to wait! (I hate suspense.)

So, without further ado, I present to you...

The

OCTOBER CHALLENGE

from OKforHuckabee.

Contact all of the Republican...

• State Senators
• State Representatives
• Statewide Elected Officials

... in YOUR STATE about Mike Huckabee, by either...

• Mail
• Telephone
• Email
• Fax
• Or in person

... by the end of October.

If you find Elected Officials Who Like Mike, ask them to publicly endorse Mike Huckabee for President.

Now... let's see who can do the most for Mike Huckabee in their home state!

Another Georgia Poll

GEORGIA; Strategic Vision 9/8

Fred Thompson 32%
Rudy Giuliani 17%
Newt Gingrich 9%
John McCain 8%
Mitt Romney 6%
Mike Huckabee 6%
Tom Tancredo 2%
Sam Brownback 2%
Ron Paul 2%
Duncan Hunter 1%

Mike is tied with Mitt Romney, again. Within the MoE with McCain, again. No, Mike Huckabee just can't be "Top Tier"... no way. Right?

The Nation's Article on Huckabee

Here's an article I found on the Web today. (Emphasis mine)

The Nation - Hunting for Votes
Matthew Blake

At Friday's National Rifle Association "Celebration of American Values" convention in Washington, while former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani was being tepidly received, it was former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a back-of-the-pack GOP presiential wannabe, who stole the show. And this raised a question: is it at all possible that Huckabee's appeal to the party's base can make him a viable candidate?

Unlike Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain or even supposed conservative darling Fred Thompson, Huckabee had no flaws or inconvenient positions to defend before the powerful gun lobby. He delivered a funny, relaxed speech that was more like a commencement address than a pandering lecture on gun rights. He won over the crowd with down-home anecdotes about entering antelope hunting contests and shooting ducks in the Ozarks.

Huckabee, a former minister, spoke of taking his son hunting to "teach him the rules about conservation and the rules of the world." And he opened fire on the latest NRA bogeyman: a U.N. law putting restrictions on gun ownership. "We should never ever think we should be under obligation to follow laws other than our own," Huckabee said to thunderous applause.

Huckabee is certainly facing an uphill battle for the nomination. He is currently polling fifth and remains unmentioned in stories about the Republican presidential race. And he will have a hard time trumping Thompson in the folksy category. Thompson also received a warm welcome from the crowd, and referring to his wife Jeri, Thompson told the NRAers, "I think she would be a much better first lady than Bill Clinton." The audience ate it up.

Thompson does face the ire of conservative groups for supporting the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform, which the NRA despises--and obviously McCain faces the same problem. Huckabee, meanwhile, has nowhere to go but up among voters celebrating NRA values.

More Polls

NATIONAL; AP-Ipsos Poll, 9/10-9/12

Rudy Giuliani 24%
Fred Thompson 19%
John McCain 15%
Mitt Romney 7% (Statistical Tie)
Newt Gingrich 6% (Statistical Tie)
Mike Huckabee 5% (Statistical Tie)
Sam Brownback 2%

MICHIGAN; Market Research Group Poll, 9/13-9/19

Rudy Giuliani 27%
Mitt Romney 13%
Fred Thompson 13%
John McCain 6% (Statistical Tie)
Mike Huckabee 5% (Statistical Tie)

COLORADO; American Research Group 9/17

Fred Thompson 25%
Rudy Giuliani 20%
John McCain 12%
Mitt Romney 8% (Tied)
Mike Huckabee 8% (Tied)
Newt Gingrich 5%
Tom Tancredo 4%
Duncan Hunter 1%
Sam Brownback 1%
Ron Paul 1%

FLORIDA; Mason Dixon Polling & Research 9/18

Rudy Giuliani 24%
Fred Thompson 23%
Mitt Romney 13%
John McCain 9% (Statistical Tie)
Mike Huckabee 6% (Statistical Tie)
Tom Tancredo 1%
Duncan Hunter 1%
Ron Paul 1%

Note: Huckabee is in a statistical tie with McCain in Florida and Michigan; tied with Romney in Colorado and also a statistical tie nationwide with Mitt.

Does Newt Like Mike?

I was surprised to see New Gingrich as one of the Vertical Day Guest Bloggers on MikeHuckabee.com.

Newt compliments Gov. Huckabee throughout his post (of course, it is written for the Huckabee blog, but still...):

"I’ve been very impressed with the Governor’s openness to new ideas and solutions for improving our country."

"He showed genuine leadership a few weeks ago by being the first candidate to sign the Nine Nineties in Nine debate pledge."

"By committing to a much more in-depth, solution-oriented political dialogue in our country, Governor Huckabee showed that he’s truly interested in real change."

(Emphasis all mine)

All this to say, if Newt does not get into the Presidential race (which I think he will not), is he setting up to endorse Mike Huckabee? This isn't the first time he's spoken highly of the Governor, and I have a feeling that it won't be the last.

Will James Dobson and Newt Gingrich endorse Mike Huckabee? Only time will tell...

Huckabee Wins Big at Values Voter Debate

From TheHill.com.

Huckabee triumphs in ‘Value Voters’ straw poll

By Klaus Marre
September 18, 2007

"Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) was the big winner of a straw poll of “value voters,” garnering 64 percent of the vote and easily beating all other GOP presidential hopefuls.

The poll of 340 delegates, who were handpicked by social conservative activists, followed a debate on issues important to many members of the Republican base.

The forum attracted only the so-called “second-tier” GOP candidates, with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.), Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney all skipping the event. Their absence was reflected in the poll results.

“We won huge,” Huckabee said. “I’m pleased, and proud, and honored to have this historic endorsement from America’s leading social conservatives who believe, as I do, in the core values which define American culture and life. This overwhelming vote affirms that conservatives are coalescing around one candidate and that candidate is me.”

Delegates were asked to cast a vote prior to the debate and at its conclusion, and the support for the first-tier candidates plunged. Thompson fell to below 5 percent from 15 percent, Giuliani dropped to just above 1 percent from 5 percent, McCain dipped to below 1 percent from 4 percent and Romney failed to garner a single vote after attracting about 4 percent prior to the debate.

“How can we expect these no-show candidates to take on Osama bin Laden and other world leaders when they’re afraid to show up and answer questions from Phyllis Schlafly?” Rabbi Aryeh Spero of the Jewish Action Alliance asked.

Added Rick Scarborough, the president of Vision America: “If you care about our votes, you need to care about our values enough to show up.”

The debate focused on abortion, national security, a marriage amendment and immigration.

Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) finished a distant second behind Huckabee, taking 16 percent of the vote."


Here are the official results of the Values Voter poll, thanks to Massachusetts for Huckabee.

Here are the official results of the straw poll conducted before andthen immediately after the Values Voter debate. The poll included 340 delegates hand-selected by 40 of America's social conservativeactivists and opinion makers. Pre-debate numbers are located in theparenthesis and the post debate numbers immediately follow the colon.

Mike Huckabee: 219 (119) Clear Winner with 63%
Ron Paul: 44 (53)
Alan Keyes: 24 (30)
Sam Brownback: 18 (26)
Fred Thompson: 15 (52)
Duncan Hunter: 13 (8)
Tom Tancredo: 7 (8)
Rudy Guiliani: 4 (16)
John Cox: 2 (1)
John McCain: 2 (13)
Mitt Romney: 0 (14)

Interesting note: Mike Huckabee and Duncan Hunter were the only ones to gain votes.

Co-sign letter to Sam Brownback

Justin Thomas has written an outstanding letter, to be sent to Sen. Sam Brownback next week, calling for him to pull out of the Presidential race.

Honorable Senator Sam Brownback,

Since 1996, you have been a great asset to the social and economic conservative movement in the US Senate as an ardent supporter of pro-life and pro-growth policies.

There are not many Senators like you today that represent us, conservatives, in the U.S. government.

We believe, however, with all due respect that your announcement on Jan 20th 2007 of your intention to seek the Republican Party's Nomination for President of the United States is an unrealizable goal.

Read more.

Run over there and co-sign Justin's letter.

Thompson won't debate Huckabee

Thompson Campaign Says No to Huckabee Debate Challenge

September 11, 2007

The Brody File has been told by Fred Thompson's campaign that he will NOT debate Mike Huckabee one on one. Huckabee had issued the debate challenge last week. Here's what Thompson's Communication Director Todd Harris just told me:

“We have the greatest respect for Gov. Huckabee and respect his desire to elevate the discourse in this campaign. But there are nine people running for the GOP nomination and an arbitrary pairing of just two of them does a disservice to the voters. We will push hard for Lincoln-Douglas style debates once we get into the General Election, when there are only two candidates running.”

To be fair to Thompson, when he said ON The Tonight Show that he backed Newt Gingrich’s debate plan, that plan was for the General Election, not the primaries. You can read about the Gingrich plan here.

You can read more about Mike Huckabee’s challenge to Thompson here.

I will say to Huckabee’s credit he is the only candidate so far that has officially endorsed Gingrich’s debate plan, though Thompson sounds like he’s ok with it too.

Everybody talks about how Thompson will be a thorn in the side of Romney. It looks to me like Huckabee will be a thorn in the side of Thompson. All of them want to be the social conservative guy.

http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/229168.aspx

Co-sign Mike Huckabee's letter to Fred Thompson

If you haven't already done this, please co-sign Gov. Huckabee's letter to Fred Thompson. So far, over 1900 people have signed this; make sure you are one of them!

Huckabee to debate Thompson one-on-one?

Read this letter from Mike Huckabee to Fred Thompson.

September 7, 2007

The Honorable Fred Thompson
1130 Eighth Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203

Dear Senator Thompson, Welcome to the 2008 Presidential race. I look forward to seeing you on the trail in the upcoming days, weeks, and months ahead.

I share your view of the debates and agree that Newt's "Nine Nineties in Nine" concept is a far better way to make sure America's next President has the character and capacity to lead our nation forward, and that's why I have already signed that pledge. I agree that what is needed is a real discussion by the candidates about their vision for the future of our country.

The debates so far have not offered an in-depth discussion on critical issues such as health care, education, energy independence, in addition to terrorism and national security.

I am aware of your comments on Fox News that you would like to participate in a series of Lincoln Douglas-styled debates. I would like to officially accept your offer and look forward to working with your staff to schedule this. I would suggest we start this series in New Hampshire.

At the end of these debates, the American people will know each candidate far greater and would be able to choose which candidate possesses the depth of knowledge on the issues and has the character and capacity to lead or great nation. More importantly, the American people would be able to rely on a true conversation on the issues, instead of just 30-second ads and soundbites to decide which candidate has the right vision for America's future.

Senator, let's lead by example and get the ball rolling. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this idea and debating you in front of the American people.

Sincerely,

Mike Huckabee Former Governor of Arkansas (1996-2007)

Texas Poll has Huckabee at 13%

This IVR Poll has Huckabee at 13% in Texas; a great improvement over the last Texas poll.

Fred Thompson 25%
Rudy Giuliani 21%
Mitt Romney 15%
Mike Huckabee 13%
John McCain 8%
Ron Paul 5%
Unsure 5%
Other 8%

http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/articles/fred-thompson-leads-texas-poll.html

Fred "The Wimp" Thompson?

Huckabee Hound has a great post about Fred Thompson's decision to jump into the race after the New Hampshire debate.

Fred Thompson is a Chicken!

I respect Fred Thompson as a Republican and a conservative. However, I cannot respect his decision to officially declare his candidacy one day after the New Hamphire Republican Debate to be televised on the Fox News channel September 5th. The reason Thompson chose Sept. 6th to declare his campaign is so that he wouldn't have to participate in the debate with all the other candidates. That is cowardly, there's no other way to put it.

Read the rest of this article HERE.

I really am disappointed in Fred Thompson. I expected more out of him. And snubbing New Hampshire like this will backfire on him.

Fred clearly doesn't have the guts to enter into the debate with Mike Huckabee. Think about it; who poses the greatest threat to Fred? Who's poll numbers leap right after the debates? Who has recently passed Fred in Iowa and New Hampshire polls? Mike Huckabee. So, by entering the Presidential race the day after the NH debate, and stealing the limelight, Fred Thompson thinks he can move the momentum away from his biggest opponent. And Fred's poll number will go up for a while. After all, people have been waiting forever for him to jump in. But after a few weeks, people will begin to see Fred Thompson for who he really is: a coward.