The Huckster Reels Them In

Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor is the surprise of the 2008 race, and the stump speech he delivered to a captivated audience of more than 1,000 people in West Des Moines on Thursday night was as unusual and original as his candidacy.

Most candidates in the final days before a crucial election offer a vision of what their leadership would mean to the lives of ordinary people. They include lists of issue priorities of the kind Hillary Clinton offers. They can wrap policy with an inspirational frame of the type Barack Obama presents or sound a call to arms in the way John Edwards is doing. They can identify a single issue to embody a candidacy, as John McCain and Rudy Giuliani have done with Iraq and terrorism. As Mitt Romney has tried but failed miserably only to have to schedule more flip-flopping press briefings to exonerate himself from his previous miscue.

Huckabee's was strikingly different. For starters, it was remarkably short and succinct on policy. Oh, he unequivocally touched on issues like energy and health care and immigration and he talked about gridlock in Washington and the corruption of big money in politics. But all of these points seemed incidental to the broader message of the speech.
Huckabee's speech was ubiquitous on values. It was personal and conversational and, not surprisingly, given what he has shown in debates, often quite humorous. He filled the speech with stories about himself and his family, the corner stone of his campaign.

Some were tender and touching, especially one about a visit with his daughter to Yad Vashem, Israel's holocaust museum that concluded with what, at age 11, she wrote in the book upon leaving the museum: "Why didn't somebody do something?" Others reflected less positively on his family, including a father whose "spare the rod, spoil the child" philosophy left a deep impression on Huckabee.

But all of them conveyed an underlying message of morality and responsibility that underscored why Huckabee's rise has been fueled by a desire on the part of Republican voters for a candidate who is both Socially Conservative and Personally Authentic.

Huckabee was openly critical of his own party and suggested a victory in Iowa would shake the rafters of the GOP. "I love this country and I love it more than I love the Republican Party," he said. "The Republican party needs to be changed. There are some people who aren't that fond of me for saying it.... They want the right and the left to keep fighting, Democrats and Republicans, the liberals and the conservatives."

He also appealed to the audience to upend the GOP establishment by supporting him next Thursday. "A week from tonight, you have an opportunity to do something completely different that would utterly confound the political ruling class in this country," he said, saying a victory would "shock with seismic energy" the political foundations of his party.

Huckabee's support is grounded in the community of evangelical Christians in Iowa, and while his speech did not include fresh calls for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion nor address the fate of homosexuals, he emphasized the sanctity of life and used story-telling to remind the audience that none of them are free agents in deciding right from wrong.

One lengthy story involved one of his sons, who was apparently difficult at a young age and who was left behind at home one day while the rest of the family went out. When Huckabee returned, his son presented him with a cake he had just baked -- a cake that turned out be inedible.

His son, attempting to interpret unfamiliar phrases in the recipe, decided that "a dash of salt" meant a cup of salt -- and in doing so, ruined the cake. The audience was in stitches as Huckabee described the result, a cake no human could eat, but as he said, if you set it outside, the cows would lick it for a week.

Then came the message. "My son did not set out to do anything that turned out so horrible," he said. "His motives were pure. His actions were admirable. He was dedicated to the task. And he intended in every way to do something good. But he made one colossal mistake. My son had made his own definition of what a dash meant.... When we start defining right and wrong with our own definitions...no matter how well intentioned we are, no matter how sincere, the result is a disaster."


Once again Huckabee demonstrated Thursday night an original touch, a unique style and a sense of self-confidence in his own instincts. His performance was the work of a politician who no longer should be underestimated by anyone in his party, nor the opposition.
Huckabee is destined for higher office and higher office is where he will go.

Go Huckabee Go.