If you were a Michigan Republican, and your state was struggling economically, what would you think of this ad?
It's soft, it's sympathetic, it's magnificently anti-Romney, and it strikes the right message and tone. I just did a Bloggingheads.tv episode with Reza Aslan, and we talked at one point about multiple identities, specifically how misguided it is to assume that one's religious identity is one's only identity. I think the mistake the media and at least some political analysts keep making about Huckabee is their assumption that his identity as a religious conservative is the only, or at least the most, relevant thing about him. People who actually meet him and hear him speak come away with a very different impression. I've seen it with my liberal colleagues here at the newspaper. Bill Kristol saw it with his secular Republican friend in New Hampshire, who, after watching Huckabee, said: "Gee, he's not some kind of crazy Christian. He's an ordinary American."
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Eric, that's not going to happen, he's a Southern Baptist!
I think the ad is fine: it mentions issues as relevant to the rest of the United States as to Michigan, and I think the closing line about Mitt Romney is funny. (I'm a moderate Democrat who finds Huckabee interesting, although I'm skeptical about his economic proposals. I do find it a refreshing change of pace that he doesn't have an Ivy League or law school background.)
Michele - I know that. I was just joking (sort of). Southern Baptists don't drink. However, if they're deacons, they can go outside during or after church and smoke cigarettes. And if they're in town for a convention, the prostitutes know that their income will go up, as the local news said the ladies in Kansas City made known when the SBs came to town. :)
"Most Americans want their next President to remind them of the guy they work with"????
First it's a guy you could sit down and have a beer with (sorry all you current Pentecostals), now THIS!
What about the smartest man (or woman) in the nation? Whatever happened to setting HIGH standards for the Presidency of the "free" world?
No WONDER Republicans are in such trouble.
I'm from Michigan. I've seen this ad several times. It's well done but the question I have is who is the intended audience? Conservative Republicans? I don't think so. I think it's conservative Democrats. He's looking for the blue-collar conservative Democrat not conservative Republicans. I've asked both my father-in-law (a staunch Baptist) and my dad (a staunch Catholic) about Huckabee. Neither one likes him. My FIL is a retired auto guy and has been for life and my dad is a retired Merrill Lynch stock broker. They both see him as too much of a Jimmy Carter. This ad doesn't work in our "struggling" state because when you watch it you think he wants to spend our money. Roads cost money. Health care costs money. The fact that he cut taxes is an asterisk because all politicians say they cut taxes so it's virtually meaningless.
The ad is anti-Romney but voters here don't care what their President looks like, much less the fact that he looks like a guy we work with. If the only thing that distinguishes him from Romney is what he looks like, that isn't much of a selling feature. That's why I think this ad is directed at blue collar democrats. It's a nice ad but it isn't persuasive. I was always anti-Huckabee but for my in-laws and my parents, this ad doesn't move them at all.
By the way, their is a huge rally on Saturday that is featuring Romney, McCain, Paul (via satellite), and John Stossel of 20/20 along with a host of other Michigan conservatives. Last word is Huckabee isn't coming. Another interesting development our state homeschool leader came out against Huckabee and for Romney. Not sure how that is going to play out, but it is showing that Huckabee's support among evangelicals is a little different than in other states.
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