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January 6, 2008 
The caucus-goers in Iowa have caucused. Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama get the Iowa nod. But Iowa isn’t New Hampshire. Or Florida. Or California. It is but the first in a series of contests the candidates must win in order to capture the presidency and there’s still a long, circuitous trek from the rural roads of Iowa to Pennsylvania Avenue.
Although Huckabee took Iowa, it is not yet clear if he can sustain the momentum he has. He was essentially handed a victory by a large bloc of evangelical voters despite several foreign policy gaffes and revelations of a less than stellar record (conservatively speaking) on illegal immigration, taxes and crime. Mike Huckabee may be able to fool some of the people some of the time, but he certainly can’t fool them all. Voters in states like California are too smart to invest much equity in Huckabee’s House of Baloney. His shenanigans in the run-up to Iowa may work with those predisposed to vote for him already, but not to the general public.
Huckabee is in constant denial. About his record, about his background and about his tendency to engage in flights of fancy when it comes to his past actions as Arkansas Governor.Huckabee demonstrated his foreign policy prowess and attention to detail by incorrectly stating:
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That there was still martial law in Pakistan after reports that it had been lifted 2 weeks prior.
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That we should crack down on an imaginary flood of illegal aliens from Pakistan and;
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That 660 Pakistanis entered the US illegally in 2006.
The figure was supposedly obtained by Huckabee in a “briefing” but is roundly disputed by the border patrol, who said only a handful of Pakistanis entered that year. After being beaten up repeatedly by the media, the Huckabee campaign admitted the Pakistan comments were designed to deflect attention away from Huckabee’s lack of foreign policy experience.
Despite telling YouTube viewers and Iowa voters he had a theology degree, Huckabee’s campaign eventually had to admit that it wasn’t true.
And still, Iowa evangelicals believe he’s their guy…
Despite repeated statements to the media that he hasn’t been negative, it was widely reported that in response to what Huckabee characterized as repeated attacks by Mitt Romney, the Huckabee campaign crafted a televised response to Romney’s attacks. On December 30th, Huckabee himself said “It’s not that we’re trying something different, we’re simply wanting to get the truth out. The truth doesn’t hurt me, but the inaccuracies and the absolute distortions and the dishonest attacks that he[Romney] has put forth… it has (sic) not been very helpful.”
One Huckabee aide characterized their ad as negative, while a second Huckabee aide denied the ad was negative. In a terrific example of Mike Huckabee’s decisive, commanding nature, his campaign circled the wagons and decided to pull the ad without shopping it to any media. But in a pathetic attempt to use the media as a proxy in his tiff with Romney and air his ad for free, Huckabee showed the ad to reporters, virtually ensuring that it would get coverage.
Despite the Hollywood writer’s strike and its accompanying brutal negotiations being major news for literally weeks on end, Mike Huckabee skipped out briefly to appear on the Jay Leno show, crossing a picket line in the process, not quite the way to woo union members who may also be New Hampshire voters. New Hampshire has the distinction of having a very large contingent of independents at roughly 40% - 45% of the electorate and this could be a problem for Huckabee, depending on how many of those precious independents are also union members.
Despite claiming for himself the mantle of immigration tough guy, Huckabee fought tooth and nail to offer instate tuition to the children of illegal immigrants as Governor of Arkansas. Instate college tuition is a benefit that almost no American citizens attending college out of state are entitled to receive, yet Huckabee –the staunch conservative that he is– wanted it extended to illegal aliens in Arkansas.
Despite the support of Hollywood tough guy, TV peddler of home gym equipment, columnist and karate champ Chuck Norris, Huckabee appears rather milquetoast. He simply doesn’t appear tough on anything, particularly when it comes to runaway globalization, illegal aliens or crime. He can deny it in that “Aw shucks, ma’am” manner so typical of Arkansas politicians but it won’t fly with most Americans.
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