Mike Huckabee: GOP frontrunner ~ Doug Wead

 

By Doug Wead

 

   Mike Huckabee: GOP frontrunner

One of the first rules they teach pilots is that during a crash landing you should not give up but keep flying your plane all the way to the ground. There may be things you can do, and even in the most hopeless of situations there may be little gifts - changes in the wind or the topography that can save your life. Only one GOP pilot has been flying his plane toward that crash landing and the Barack Obama landslide re-election in 2012 and that has been Governor Mike Huckabee. And now, thanks to a change in the winds, he just might land safely after all.

Yesterday's election demonstrates that the GOP is not dead and when the electorate has even three more years to forget George W. Bush, they may just get sick of Obamanomics.

Sarah Palin threw away her chances and continues to do so daily, demonstrating to her most enthusiastic supporters that the Katie Couric interview may not be the fault of Katie Couric.

Mitt Romney all but announced that he was too important to waste on a run for the presidency unless he could be assured of that win. For months he has been privately telling friends that all of Obama's spending will likely prompt an economic spike, and thus a Republican win in 2012 was unlikely.

Bobby Jindal has bowed out. And Tim Pawlenty must first pass through the evangelical gateway of Iowa, where his only hope of victory is if Hucakabee and Palin devour each other.

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The latter is a very real possibility. Huckabee is a street fighter. And Palin will throw a punch first and talk about it later. The Iowa caucus could turn out to be as messy as the Russo-German front in World War Two, as the only two "born again" Christians duke it out. The one left standing will likely get the nomination. If Huckabee wins - and he has already demonstrated that he will not give Sarah a free pass - then it will be hard to beat him in the South, where he almost pulled off an upset last time with the media arbitrarily writing him off.

Newt Gingrich was counting on being the FOX candidate, but the emerging story of his hypocrisy in attacking Clinton-Lewinsky while he was having his own affair is hanging over him like Chappaquiddick. Every day he must ask himself, "If I run, will that sword fall?"

Karl Rove, looking for a candidate, assures him that no one remembers or cares. But Sarah Palin does. And so does Mike Huckabee. Yes Newt, it will fall.

Besides, Gingrich also hesitated - stopped flying his plane - and Huckabee slipped past him with his own FOX TV Show, debuting in the inglorious, lowly, awful, Saturday night slot. He was too nice, critics said. There was no conflict, he cannot be both a successful entertainer and a political candidate, one make audiences laugh and cry, and the other better not or he will lose elections.

But Huckabee did not forfeit his future for ratings and a paycheck, he kept flying his plane, he stayed nice and the audience came to him anyway, and now he not only has a successful television show, he is the front-runner for the GOP nomination for president in 2012.

Oh, how they would all like to relive the last twelve months. Keep flying that plane Mike. Anything can happen, including a safe landing.

Rasmussen Public Opinion Ratings

Mike Huckabee 29%

Mitt Romney 24%

Sarah Palin 18%

Newt Gingrich 14%

Tim Pawlenty 6%