TEXARKANA, Ark., Oct. 3, 2007
Huckabee: Leaders Out Of Touch With Base
GOP Presidential Hopeful Responds To Speculation About Possible Third-Party Candidate
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Republican presidential hopeful former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, at a house party in Londonderry, N.H., Saturday, Sept. 29, 2007. (AP)
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"I think it says about the media-anointed front-runners that there's some dissatisfaction...That's why I'm in the race," Huckabee told reporters before a private fundraiser Tuesday. "If you look at some of the people who maybe have a lot of money but their ideas don't resonate with the Republican base voters, so it's not surprising."
Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister, noted his opposition to abortion and said he doesn't think it's necessary for Christian evangelicals to threaten leaving the party. More than 40 Christian conservatives attended a meeting Saturday in Salt Lake City to discuss the possibility of supporting a third-party candidate.
"I don't think it's necessary at all to be thinking about a third party. I think it's necessary to think about the people who have been out there on the track," Huckabee said. "The fact that a few people talk about a third party doesn't mean they're the rank and file. There's a lot of people who are quite satisfied with my candidacy within that group of evangelical and social conservatives."
Huckabee returned to Texarkana, where he launched his political career 15 years ago, for a fundraiser at the home of former state Rep. David Haak. Huckabee was a pastor at Beech Street Baptist Church here when he launched his unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate. He later became lieutenant governor of Arkansas and then governor, completing more than 10 years in that office in January.
"This is where it all started for me politically," Huckabee said. "It was the people of Texarkana who really gave me that launch. Whatever political roots there are for me are right here in Texarkana."
Huckabee's campaign did not say how much it expected to raise from the $1,000-a-person fundraiser, but Haak estimated that about 90 people would attend. Huckabee has trailed the frontrunner candidates in fundraising and did not say how much his campaign has raised in the third quarter, which ended Sunday.
"We've never had to raise the kind of money other candidates have had to raise because our expenditures are much more frugal. What we're going to have is enough money to stay out there," Huckabee said.
According to his last campaign finance report, Huckabee raised $1.3 million in the first six months of the year, a fraction of the $33.5 million Rudy Giuliani and the $35 million
Haak's home filled with friends and members of the church where Huckabee served as pastor for several years.
"This is as much like home as anyplace else he's lived," said Danny Gray, a Texarkana jewelry store owner and former mayor who has known Huckabee since 1986. "He did so much for this community. I think it's appropriate for him to come back here now."
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Prissy Hickerson, a former highway commissioner and close friend of Huckabee's, said the former governor's small presidential campaign reminded her of the financially strapped bid he launched in his run against then-Sen. Dale Bumpers in 1992."I think it says about the media-anointed front-runners that there's some dissatisfaction...That's why I'm in the race."
Mike Huckabee"When he ran, the people of Texarkana were his organization," Hickerson said. "We had people come in from Hope and Magnolia to help fold and stuff envelopes, but the core was really here."
Despite stumping in a city sitting on the Texas border, Huckabee said he'll maintain his home roots when the Arkansas Razorbacks play the Texas Longhorns in 2008.
"Even the Texans will expect that I'll go 'woo, pig, sooie' when the Hogs play the Longhorns. The Texas people will forgive me and, in fact, the Aggie fans, and the Baylor and (Texas) Tech fans will applaud me for it," Huckabee said.
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- Well, why isn''t the base sending Mike Huckabee beaucoup bucks, then. Or Sam Brownback. Those guys sound pretty much like they are speaking to the base.
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- Wake up America...Huckabee rocks!
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- Huckabee should get out of the race and endorse Ron Paul. Ron Paul covered the best of the beliefs of the third party and the Republican party. You get the best of both worlds here. Vote Ron Paul for President.
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- I would have to agree that the so called Republican front-runners are out-of-step not only with the Republican base but also with the country. We don''t need another Washington insider who is funded by lobbyists. We need a man of the people, a man who has the ability to listen to ALL Americans from all walks of life, a man who can communicate vision for our country, and a man who will lead us in the right direction rather than following the latest poll. That man is Mike Huckabee!
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- Mike Huckabee is someone to watch. He''s extremely accomplished as Governor of Arkansas (working very effectively with a Democratic legislature), he''s articulate, relatable, and respectable. Go Huckabee!
www.grandrapids4huckabee.com - Reply to this comment
- You gotta wonder about the Republicans. Is their goal to nominate the next President or just someone to hold up as a standard for themselves? because if their nominee is out of touch with the rest of America, it really won''t matter what the 36% who are extreme right wingers or war mongers want.
Hey GOP--there is a bigger picture here--its called the American electorate and they don''t want continual war--and they are pro choice. - Reply to this comment
- AP) Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says talk among some conservative Christians to back a third-party candidate if the GOP nominates someone who supports abortion rights suggests that front-runners aren''t connecting with the party''s base.
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And this says it all. The Republican party is about nothing but abortion. It is all they care about, it is their only agenda. (A close second is bashing gay families.)
That''s it folks. All she wrote. They don''t care about spending, taxes, kids, education, the constitution, nothing.
Only abortion and bashing ***. And if you can''t do that, then the "base" (a good name for them) won''t support you. - Reply to this comment
- The Republican leaders are just plain out of touch, not only with their base, but with reality. Where did they find this gaggle of blathering idiots, any way?
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