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Huckabee's Populist Pitch
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ShareAugust 16, 2007 3:11 PM
ABC News' Teddy Davis and Leigh Hartman Report: As Mike Huckabee, the second-place finisher in the Iowa Republican Straw Poll, tries to topple Straw Poll winner Mitt Romney in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, the former Arkansas governor is selling his "sensitivity" to people’s everyday economic concerns more than any specific policy.
"When I hear the headlines that the economy's doing great, I know that it is, if you look at it from the macro sense," Huckabee told ABC News. "But if you go out and talk to people who work on the floors of factories or you talk to waitresses who are doing their second job, school teachers who have to work an extra job, you don't hear quite the confidence about how great the economy is doing."
What you find," Huckabee continued, "is that there are a lot of people who are working harder than they've ever worked (but) they're staying at best even."
As Huckabee tries to frame the race against Romney as one pitting a "Main Street Republican" against a "Wall Street Republican,” he speaks frequently of his experience growing up as the son of a firefighter and being the first male in his family to graduate from high school. He also writes in his memoir, From Hope to Higher Ground, of his experience listening to people’s hardships as a Baptist pastor.
He has not yet, however, developed a set of policy proposals to drive home his populist message.
Asked Thursday by ABC News if the "Main Street vs. Wall Street" contrast he is trying to drive home with Romney extends beyond Huckabee’s support for the "Fair Tax," a proposal to replace all current federal taxes with a 23 percent sales tax, Huckabee was not able to point to any additional policy proposals.
He also was not able to say which specifics -- if any -- he would be rolling out between now and the Iowa caucuses.
Instead, he spoke about how his "experience of life lived" gives him the kind of "sensitivity that a president had better have. "He also said that it informs the way he looks at everything from education to health care to the criminal justice system.
"When you live your life working without a net, and a lot of people in this country are on the trapeze and there is no net," said Huckabee, "I think you have just a different perspective about the vulnerabilities, and the frailties, and the realities of life."
"They may not necessarily go to the Georgetown cocktail parties or necessarily be seen at the nicest events in Manhattan," Huckabee continued. "But they're going to be voting next November. Someone better understand how they feel about not just the economy but the world in general."
August 16, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (9)
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Good comments by Huckabee, but his 23% consumption tax will hurt poor people more than the Mitt Romneys of his party.
Posted by: daveinboca | Aug 16, 2007 3:26:26 PM
What a guy. I have never heard such eloquence and common sense from any stump speaker. If this guy had the funds to run the race, he could be elected Emperor. He could charm a snake. Move over Bill Clinton, Hope Arkansas may get a second chance to redeem itself.
Posted by: LibSlayer | Aug 16, 2007 3:57:48 PM
You're wrong, daveinboca, the Fair Tax will actually help the poor, and make sure the rich pay their fair share as well.
Posted by: Victor | Aug 16, 2007 4:12:53 PM
Huckabee's an affable guy. A comedian, preacher, and down-to-earth arm-chair philosopher all in one. Love him. Hopefully in a year's time we'll start calling him President Huckabee.
Posted by: Stoic Patriot | Aug 16, 2007 4:19:34 PM
Voters like Huckabee. He'd be a good VP candidate. (But that whole "fair tax" thing is a silly gimmick that will never fly, and the fast he tosses it away, the better for him.)
Posted by: Bill Rocker | Aug 16, 2007 5:44:16 PM
Huckabee's a good guy, but he's gotten more popular lately after he's started adopting some of Ron Paul's positions. It's also little-known that he pardoned heavy-drug user Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones for a 1975 reckless driving conviction. I like Huckabee, but I'm not sure about him yet...
Posted by: Andrew | Aug 17, 2007 1:37:16 AM
The fact that Huckabee was the first one in his family to graduate from high school (I guess the next claim will be the first guy to graduate from middle or grammer school.) says less about him than it does about the hated Liberals that worked to make that a reality rather than the Republican penchant for child labor.
Get a grip Mike, you are running to represent the Party of Rove/Bush, Romney, and Haliburton.
Posted by: A Viet Nam Vet | Aug 17, 2007 1:35:39 PM
Bill Rocker, learn about the FairTax before dismissing it as a silly gimmick. Enact it, and watch the US become the world's greatest tax haven, the biggest exporter, and most prosperous nation in the world.
Posted by: Suwannee County | Aug 17, 2007 9:00:32 PM
Mike is a shorts sleeve Republican and understands the "little people" of America. Nothing has been handed to him on a silver plater. He would make the grestest Prseident from Arkansas while Bill did not do bad!
Posted by: Jerry King | Aug 19, 2007 12:49:16 PM
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