January 12: Huckabee News Roundup

A new Mason-Dixon poll from Georgia shows Huckabee in front:

Among Republicans, Huckabee enjoys a 31 percent to 18 percent lead over John McCain, with Mitt Romney a close third with 14 percent. Rudy Giuliani is fourth with 9 percent and Fred Thompson fifth with 8 percent.

And an Alabama poll also shows Huckabee edging out McCain for first:

Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, led GOP candidates with 32 percent, while McCain had 25 percent. With a polling margin of error of 5.6 percentage points, McCain could be within 2 percentage points of Huckabee, Johnson said.

“The McCain surge in the Republican primary (in New Hampshire) makes it right now McCain and Huckabee,” Johnson said.

Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, an Alabama native, polled 10 percent, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani polled 7 percent, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney polled 6 percent.

Here's a report from the campaign trail in Birch Run, Michigan, where according to one estimate Mike spoke to an audience of over 2000:

BIRCH RUN -- Sporting a Red Wings' jacket, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee fingered a fire-red bass guitar as a whooping crowd plugged in the words, "Go Mike, go, go, go."

His surprise musical performance topped an energetic, loud rally of booming cheers Friday in Birch Run during which the Baptist minister pumped up his populist image, modest roots and staunch conservative beliefs.

An overflow crowd of 1,300 fans at the Birch Run Expo Center furiously snapped pictures, waved red and blue pompoms, chanted "We like Mike" and fluttered signs reading "Michigan for Huckabee" just days before the state primary election on Tuesday.

"I like you too," responded the former Arkansas governor. "In fact, I'm loving you guys a whole bunch today. I want to see you take this enthusiasm ... and help something happen Tuesday that a lot of people don't think can happen."

And check out this great column by Ken Connor from Townhall:

"Please move to the back of the bus!"

It is a command, not a request. The mood is emphatic, the tone condescending, the derision palpable. The sentiment is laced with the disdain that is common when patricians speak of the hoi polloi. They are, after all, accustomed to sitting at head tables and in box seats. They summer at Nantucket and Bar Harbor. They are educated at Harvard and Yale. They read the Wall Street Journal and Barron's. They are used to calling the shots, to being in charge. For them, there is no waiting in line.

They are the Republican elites, the bluebloods that fund political campaigns. They fashion for themselves quaint little names like "Rangers" and "Pioneers." Raising political capital is their new frontier. They invest in political campaigns as a cost of doing business and they expect a return on their investment. To spread the risk, they often put their money down on more than one candidate. And the returns are good—subsidies, tax breaks, limitations on liability when things go awry. Power is a wonderful way to leverage wealth! They are fiscally conservative and socially liberal. After all, one never knows when the right to abortion might come in handy. An unexpected pregnancy can be so inconvenient!

They expect people to know their place—and to stay in it. Place, after all, reflects one's station in life. It is, therefore, unsettling when one gets out of place.

That's why the candidacy of Mike Huckabee is so unsettling to them. A Baptist preacher who wants to sit at the head of the table! Can't he just pronounce the benediction? A graduate of Ouachita Baptist University—never heard of it. Where is he from? Arkansas? That's where the Ozarks are, right? They make moonshine there and those quaint little dolls with faces made of dried fruit. Governor, you say? Ah, but has he ever run a business? Wasn't Bill Clinton governor of Arkansas? Who is backing Huckabee? Home schoolers? Why would anyone want to teach their kids at home when there are perfectly lovely boarding schools available? Evangelicals? Those are the folks with the red necks and blue collars that carry big black Bibles, right? The ones that don't believe in evolution and want to take the nation back for Christ. They think the earth is flat and object to embryonic stem cell research? I thought so. Oh, they can be useful by winning elections for you, but they are soooo presumptuous! Who do they think they are? Give someone a seat at the table, and the next thing you know, they want to sit at the head of the table!

Here's the bad news for the bluebloods. The blue collars aren't going to go away. The base isn't going to the back of the bus. They've ridden back there for so long, their behinds are sore. They're mad as hell and they aren't going to take it any more. They've found a champion in Mike Huckabee and they intend to fight.

Read the whole thing...