Beyond Hillary, Barack, Rudy And John

As Attention Focuses On 'First-Tier' Candidates, Others Gear Up To Give Them A Fight

(CBS)  By CBSNews.com's Amy Sara Clark.

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Who's running for president? Just about everyone, it seems. With no incumbent, vice president or other presumed front-runner on either side, the 2008 election is the most "open" since the 1920s, drawing in a plethora of strong hopefuls.

Most of the attention has focused on possible frontrunners such as former Democratic Sen. John Edwards, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore and, on the Republican side, Sen. John McCain, Govs. Mitt Romney and George Pataki, and "America's Mayor," Rudolph Giuliani.

Former NATO Commander Gen. Wesley Clark, Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, Sen. Joe Biden, and Reps. Dennis Kucinich and Duncan Hunter are also all either running or considering runs.

But lower on the radar are a swirl of other candidates, declared and still deciding, who could give the top-tier a run for its money.

And one of them could even win. Just think Bill Clinton in 1992 or Jimmy Carter in 1976. Both began the race polling in the single digits.

Here's a look at other candidates worth watching. And you never know, says Democratic pollster Chuck Rund, one of them could "find the right mix of politics and organizational structure and money and a uniqueness and clarity of ideas," that would allow him to climb all the way to the top.

The Republicans:

Mike Huckabee:

Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas comes to the race with three winning assets: he's a governor, a Southerner, and a Baptist minister.

"He's a good speaker, a conservative who could appeal to a broad range in his party," says Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report. Plus, Huckabee sides with President Bush on immigration, has mainstream conservative credentials, and, most importantly, holds the state's top office.

The last sitting senator to be elected president was John F. Kennedy, 46 years ago.

Governors are considered more experienced in holding top leadership positions, appear to be free of Washington influence, and perhaps most importantly, there's no congressional voting record to be scrutinized.

But for this election cycle, voters might prefer senators with national and international foreign policy experience.

"For a while it didn't matter very much," says Dennis Goldford, a professor of politics at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. "But we live in a Sept. 12th world now."

Huckabee, 51, has not yet declared, but says he's considering a presidential run.

Huckabee has little experience in foreign policy, but his domestic experience is solid, having served 10 years as governor, three as lieutenant governor and as chairman of the National Governors Association. Huckabee has also worked as a Baptist minister. He is married and has three grown children.

More importantly, Huckabee has the reputation of being a particularly good governor; Time magazine named him one of the five best governors in 2005.

Huckabee is also known for his dedication to physical fitness — both his state's and his own. Dubbed "The Thin Man" by the media, Huckabee dropped from 295 pounds to 185 after learning he had type II diabetes three years ago. In his state, Huckabee has eliminated vending machines from elementary schools and instituted 30-minute daily exercise breaks for state employees. He also co-chairs the national Alliance for a Healthier Generation with Bill Clinton.

But Huckabee brings liabilities to a potential candidacy as well. He's drawn criticism for verbal missteps, including jokingly referring to his weight loss as due to "six weeks at a concentration camp" and for calling his state a "banana republic." He has also been cited for five violations by the Arkansas Ethics Commission, all dealing with not reporting gifts or cash.

So far, Huckabee is not doing too well in the polls — when he shows up in a national poll at all, he hovers between 1 and 2 percent.

Iowa and New Hampshire focus groups last summer said Huckabee was likable but lacked passion, says Steve Hinkson, political director of Luntz Research Companies, which did the study. "It's a serious time and the voters appreciate that. … He's a serious guy but his intensity doesn't necessarily come across."

But Huckabee's greatest roadblock will probably not be a lack of passion but money.

"I'm not sure if he can raise any money," says Rothenberg. "Nobody knows who he is."

Sam Brownback:

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is hoping to gain leverage by appealing to the conservative wing of his party, and there's a good chance he'll succeed. Front-runners Giuliani and Pataki support gay and abortion rights. McCain voted against a ban on gay marriage, and although Romney opposes abortion now, he's supported it in the past.

"The key is who fills the vacuum?" says Rothenberg. This year, "a big vacuum on the Republican side is for the evangelical social conservatives. ... He's the most plausible candidate from the right."

An evangelical Christian who converted to Catholicism, Brownback, 50, is against abortion rights and gay marriage, and, according to his Web site, for "market- and consumer-based solutions to health care reform," and an optional flat tax. He is against judges who "legislate from the bench," and for "protecting American culture."

According to a Pew Research Study, 23 percent of Republicans are white evangelical Protestants, 78 percent of which voted for Mr. Bush in 2004.

Like Huckabee, Brownback has yet to declare a presidential bid or make a mark in national polls (or even beat 3 percent). He is married with five children, the youngest two adopted; one from China and the other from Guatemala.

The Luntz focus groups found Brownback to be "clean-cut, honest, and clear about where he stands," but also saw him as a bit too "soft-spoken" and "passive."

Newt Gingrich:

As architect of the Contract with America that led the Republicans to take back the House in 1994, Newt Gingrich is the best-known of the second-tier candidates.

"He's not a frontrunner," says Republican pollster Linda DiVall, but "given his past stature in the party," and his reputation as someone with big ideas, she says, "he's going to be hard to ignore."

A Dec. 5-7 CNN poll had Gingrich at third at 13 percent, right after Giuliani and McCain.

Gingrich also did surprisingly well in Luntz's focus groups, says Hinkson, falling near the top of the list. Most telling, participants' approval ratings shot up after they had seen video clips of him speaking. "They thought that he was dead on with some of the challenges America is faces," Hinkson said.

"He's got good name recognition, is a good speaker, a lot of Republicans think he's a good motivator," says Rothenberg. But he adds, "I'm sure critics and opponents will raise questions about ethics and things in his public and private life."

Gingrich, 66, who is married to his third wife and has two daughters from his first marriage, was elected as a representative from Georgia in 1978. He served as House Speaker from 1995 through 1999, when he resigned his seat under pressure after a poor Republican showing in the midterm elections.

In 1997, Gingrich was investigated by the House Ethics Committee. He calls the 84 charges groundless, and they were dismissed, but Gingrich agreed to reimburse the Ethics Committee $300,000 for the cost of the investigation.

But Hinkson said that Gingrich's ethical issues didn't seem to bother his focus group participants. "I think that voters don't really remember the Newt of the '90s, don't remember the corruption and malfeasance associated with him. And even when they were reminded, it didn't make much of a dent. There's so much (corruption) now, and it happened so long ago," he said.

Plus, says Rund, citing Bill Clinton as an example, "The American public has a forgiving mind."

That Gingrich practically bubbles over with passion and ideas will play especially well in the primaries and caucuses, which tend to attract "hard-core political junkies who are better educated and like ideas," says Mark Blumenthal, aka Mysterypollster, editor of pollster.com.

"In New Hampshire," he adds, "if you go up with a bunch of white papers, there are going to be a lot of takers."

[randalds]

Dum shirt?

Posted by Kaliveotin at 12:56 PM : Dec 17, 2006

make tat one up on your own or did you get help from a 3rd grader?

Look I have no problem with Hillary being president, but I'm not supporting her because I don't think she can win. Not because she's a woman, but because she's coming in with waaaaaaay too much baggage. The nomination is Obama's to lose.

[randalds]

Ahh, by your very words ("I love that someone is answering me"), you're a troll. Actually you must be watching a different, FOXNews version, of Hardball because Chris Matthews says McCain is his choice, but to get the republican nomination, not to become the president. You really shouldn't be drinking all that "shine before watching TV. Not good for your eyes, ears or health. Wake up and pay attention and maybe someday we'll let you sit at the adult table instead of the card table in the hall with the other children.

[kaliveotin]

Randall DS. I love that someone is answering me. What what DS stand for? Dum shirt? Chris Mathews has said on air that McCain was his choice, and spent this past Sundays show supporting the Hillary bashing, if he has any democratic leanings then he's obviously an insecure male who doesn't believe a woman could be president. Seriously, do you believe Hillary would be less competant that Bush? Do you believe she would be
less effective against terrorists. With her intellect, she could express have the effort and be more successfull.

[kaliveotin]

We always get excited about so many minor candidates. The frontrunners always win. Hillary and probably John McCain will be the nominees 20 months fom now.

[kaliveotin]

Harvard - Yale . I must haev been confused because there's no real substansive difference between these campuses, few of these Ivy league idiots have demonstrated competance in anyting except collecting massively big payment chacks for questionable services. If there were such
a scale we'd see that that few get more money for producing less quality than harvard and yale graduates.

[kaliveotin]

Hillary Rocks. Shes going to kick republican "male" butt" GO Hillary

[randalds]

Wasn't he educated at the same school as George Bush?

Posted by Kaliveotin at 08:36 PM : Dec 16, 2006

No, he graduated from Columbia and then got his law degree from Harvard (first African-American to be president of the Harvard Law Review). Bush went to Yale.

[randalds]

Um...Chris Matthews (I assume you mean the one who has the MSNBC show Hardball) is a liberal Democrat, not a conservative. He used to be an aid to Tip O'Neil and advisor to Jimmy Carter.

[kaliveotin]

There is NO WAY Barac Obamma could be elected president in 08, absolutely NO WAY. In an electorate this close, so evenly devided between right and left, Republican and Democrat, his ethnicity will hurt him, somewhat because he's black, but much more because he has very little experience and almost no track record. Many great politicians who had a lot more going for them, and spoke equally well, failed to win.
Hubert Humphrey, Adeli Stephenson, Tom Harkin, etc etc etc. Warner and Bayh, two excellant candidates have already dropped out. Obama would be become "The biggest loser" since McGovern.
Why are so many corporate types and Republicans pushing Obama, (Chris Mathews and so many other
talking heads, almost entirely Republican or Ultra conservative.) because they're scared of Hillary and know Obama wouldn't stand a chance.
If he runs against Hilary his career in the senate will also be sidetracked or even ruined.
Wasn't he educated at the same school as George Bush?

[randalds]

Evan Bayh has already dropped out and if Obama declares then the only ones on the democratic side who will be taken seriously will be Hillary, Barack and John Edwards. Everyone else might as well save their time and money after that. The democratic ticket is going to be a combination of two of those three. The only one on the republican side that can seriously challenge them is Guliani and he won't make it through the primaries. McCain has shot himself in the foot by becoming extreme right just when America has become sick of it and the same with Brownback and Romney. Newts a clown who doesn't stand a chance but as a democrat I pray he gets the nomination as it'd be the first democrat landslide since Clinton was re-elected.

[bill1fj]

Isn't this group just more of the same bunch that has basically screwed up everything they touch. We're in a war that we either need to go in with enough people to win or get out. Millions of illegal aliens all over the country. Get em out.
The country keeps going deeper in debt. Cut out all unneeded "pork" and put a little more tax on the rich This bunch of corrupt politicians just wouldn't do it. Throw em all out and lets start over..............................................thuch. reraeverythi

[deadhead9496]

*** and his stupid Monkey deserve a fair trial.
Then a few years in Gitmo to think about all of the s**t that they have served up to the world.

[deadhead9496]

*** and his stupid Monkey deserve a fair trial.
Then a few years in Gitmo to think about all of the s**t that they have served up to the world.

[deadhead9496]

*** and his stupid Monkey deserve a fair trial.
Then a few years in Gitmo to think about all of the s**t that they have served up to the world.

[randalds]

Thanks, I'll see if i can find it at B Dalton this weekend. Can never have too many makes Bush like and idiot books.

[marcodele]

There's another good book out called "Bad President" based on the "Bad Dog" and "Bad Cat" books. It is mostly photos, but of course photos that capture other people's reaction to W.
After looking at the photos, you could put the following caption on any picture of Condoleeza Rice looking at Bush: "he's such an effin idiot..."

[randalds]

That's a classic! Or how about "If you teach a child to read then he or her can pass a literacy test". Loved that one! I have a book called "The I Hate George W. Bush Reader" (put out by the same people who put out the "I Hate Republicans Reader") and it has dozens of some of his best.

[marcodele]

Lol Randal! My favorite Bushism:

"You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." --George W. Bush, interview with CBS News' Katie Couric, Sept. 6, 2006

[randalds]

Hey marcodele, I thought when speaking in Bushisms the word is supposed to be mis-underestimated? lol!

[marcodele]

I hope you're right JH6, but Bill Frist is still kicking politically after he diagnosed Terry Schiavo as "not brain dead" after watching a videotape.

Never underestimate the power of the oil elite, the Bush family, and the stupidity of neocons.