Following the Huckabee Campaign

Little did we know when we got out of bed this morning that we would end up attending a rally for Mike Huckabee. He stopped by the Tri-Cities Airport in northeast Tennessee and held an event on the eve of Super Tuesday. Chuck and Gena Norris also accompanied him on this stop. The crowd was about 500 strong which is quite surprising given the governor's current standing in the polls.

As I was listening to Governor Huckabee's stump speech I was struck by how well he connected with the audience. He pointed out that most candidates don't pay attention to our area (and they don't - Governor Huckabee is the first to make a campaign stop in the area). I believe the Republican establishment made a grave error in dismissing him as someone who could not win the nomination. I believe he has very solid conservative credentials and would make a fantastic nominee.

He also comes across as someone who has an extremely strong work ethic. Everyone knows by now that he lost over 100 pounds. But another story that he told was the fact that not only was he the first person in his family to graduate from high school but that he finished college in just 2 years and 3 months. He said he didn't finish quickly because he had so much money but because he was poor and had to work his way through college and could not afford to take four years to get his degree.

One of his most fascinating observations was summed up in this line: "People should tell the media who they are going to vote for not the media telling the people who to vote for." In this simple sentence he has hit upon a fundamental truth of this campaign: it is the media who has set the parameters for this race rather than the voters. It will be interesting to see in the coming months what influence, if any, the media has on the course of the campaign.

My other favorite line of his speech has to do with the IRS. He said, "Where I come from when something is broken if it can't be fixed with WD-40 and duct tape it can't be fixed." Indeed, the tax code is so maddeningly complex that it's impossible to see how simply modifying it will do any good. While there are arguments to be made over whether the Fair Tax is the right solution (and I haven't done enough research on it to say whether I totally agree with it) it's fair to say that what we've got now doesn't work.

Now there may be some who ask why I would take the time to take my family to a political rally for a candidate that I suggested withdraw from the race. First of all, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our family to witness first hand a presidential campaign rally. Second, I've long thought that Governor Huckabee was the right candidate but that because of the circumstances of this race (namely the abundance of candidates running this year) it would be difficult for him to win. I hope that I am wrong and that he does well enough tomorrow to give him a fighting chance at the nomination. But if the outcome is what the polls suggest, it will probably be time to call it quits if he hopes to have any chance at running again in the future. I hope he will run again because he is just the kind of leader this country needs.