The truckers said Arkansas had some of the worst roads in the U.S. After Gov. Huckabee improved those roads, the truckers rated them some of the best roads in the U.S. Why don’t you tell the whole truth? It isn’t Mike Huckabee’s fault that it takes two hrs to get anywhere.

Yes, Gov. Huckabee took radical action by consolidating the school districts. That wasn’t a popular thing for the people to take, and Bill Clinton said he wouldn’t even have had the courage to do that. But because he did that, the schools and the district was better off. How else do you think that the grades improved so dramatically. I’m sure a lot of parents weren’t happy, but for the benefit of the whole state sometimes changes have to be made.

How did the “marriage amendment” get passed? Didn’t the people or the legislature approve that? I guess the people wanted it or they wouldn’t have overwhelmingly voted for Gov. Huckabee a 2nd term, right?

I’m not sure Mike Huckabee was the Gov. when the legislature was sitting on their a…! I heard that Gov. Clinton left the roads and schools in terrible shape. HE was too concerned about running for President…not about the people in Arkansas! It doesn’t sound like you are a Christian.

Yes, there were a lot of taxes, some of those in answer to the peoples choice about how to pay for infrastructure and good schools. How would you have paid for these obvious needs in your state? Would you just let them continue to get worse like the poor Democrats did before Gov. Huckabee? He had to make hard decisions to help your state. He had to work with a Democratic legislature who would override his veto at every turn. What would you have done better in those circumstances? Not all other Governors had the same situations as Gov. Huckabee. They didn’t have Democrats who nailed his office door shut so he couldn’t work in his office as Gov. Remember the Gov. was arrested and Lt. Gov. Huckabee took over and the Dems were angry about him being a Republican. Remember how he saved the taxpayers lots of money living in a double-wide trailer while the Gov. mansion was being repaired. How many Gov. would have done that? They would have chosen an expensive alternative that would cost the taxpayers much more. Looks like there was a lot of jealousy in your state and apparently not just by some Democrats!!!

Not to put too fine a point on it but Huckster supported scholarships for illegals who signed a letter of intent to become a US citizen, not that they actually had to become citizens before attending college here. The distinction is an important one.

As to taxes, Huckabee raised them over 100 times and left the state with a surplus which to a fiscal conservative is nearly as bad as overspending. They had the opportunity to return it to taxpayers and it never happened. Again, where was Huckabee’s leadership? Why didn’t he pressure the legislature to issue refunds? We are one of the poorest states in the nation and also one of the most highly taxed, and a good number of those taxes saw their origins in the Huckabee administration.

Huckabee doesn’t push his faith or beliefs on others? What about the covenant marriage amendment? What about the law requiring schools to measure the BMI of students? For someone who is supposedly so accepting, he certainly had his nose in the private business of a lot of Arkansans.

H is continuing the W ’08 legacy.

I’ve had enough of the HW plan. Even religious bigot Huckabee has to be better.

I will list for you what qualities we need to beat Obama in 2012:

A good debater
Great communicator (gives good speeches)
Likeable
Conservative
Able to talk about issues that most people understand
Relates to middle and poor income people
Washington outsider

All of this criteria is only met by one person: MIKE HUCKABEE!!! He was the best debater of the Republican candidates, he would hold his own against Obama giving speeches, the young people loved him, he got 48% of the black vote in Arkansas when he ran for Gov….the Blacks love him because he has stood up for them, and not just during an election cycle, and they know it.

For those who say he is soft on illegal immigration…he did not want the children of the illegals to be penalize for what their parents did. He wanted them to be able to compete for college scholarships, BUT they would have to be going through the process to be a citizen first. That’s the part you are not being told. If any other candidate would have been given the circumstances he had in Arkansas, they would have raised taxes too because the state had no money. The Supreme Court of Arkansas mandated him to improve the schools (they were at 49th in the U.S.) He not only improved them, but they were rated in 2007 as 8th in the U.S. The roads were in terrible shape when he took office, and he improved the infrastructure because it was needed badly. He cared more about helping the citizens of Arkansas than worrying about what the other Republican would say about him. That’s the kind of man we want to be our President. A man who cares about all the people in the U.S. A man who won’t worry about the polls to make a decision. He started with a $200M deficit when he took office, and left with a $850M surplus. If you call that being a RINO, I would rather have a RINO than a person like Romney who had liberal healthcare installed in Mass. during his tenure, the first state to accept gay marriage, one of the poorest unemployment statistics compared to all other states, lots of fees (which is just like taxes only another name, and left his roads in pitiful condition. We need a man who lives by his morals and principles…that’s MIKE HUCKABEE!!! Because he has his show, the Republican Party will not be able to lie to the American people about what Mike Huckabee is all about. He didn’t have the money to put out lots of ads explaining the half-truths in the last election. Now people are beginning to know him and they like what they see. His show is the highest rated show on cable every weekend. He beats Beck and Hannity most of the time. If you want to hear the other side in defense of what Huckabee thinks about issues, go on HucksArmy.com. Click on Discussions. Scroll down to the end of the page, and click on Mike Huckabee and the issues. You will hear what really happened during his term as Gov. of Arkansas. Then you make up your mind. Don’t let the elitist Republicans in Wash. D.C. or any of you who cannot imagine this “Hick” becoming President of the U.S. determine what Mike Huckabee did in Arkansas and why. Somebody on this post said he was there in Arkansas when Mike Huckabee was the Gov. Well, all I have to say is if you believe that guy, then you MUST believe the people from Alaska who have put down Sarah Palin too. You see you will always have some people who won’t like the Gov., so can you believe everything they say. No Way!!!

BTW, in 2008, a poll was taken in Arkansas, and Mike Huckabee even then had a 65% approval rating in Arkansas. This is a very Democratic state. Mitt Romney when he left office had a 77% disapproval rating from Mass. Take your pick!!!

I think we’ve parsed out before why Palin appears to perform poorly among women. She’s smart, she’s successful, she’s beautiful, she has a wonderful family. This brings out the natural competitive streak in women. We are quite experienced at cannibalizing our own. Sad but true. It doesn’t surprise me that she fares so poorly among blacks either. A woman presents the biggest threat to their historic president, seeing as it’s likely that a woman will be the next “minority” to break that barrier. Further to which, look at Oprah. She had the opportunity to back a woman in the primaries last year, one who I dare say would be doing a MUCH better job than this clown (which is saying quite a lot), and instead she chose The One. If Oprah is at all a yardstick for the black community (and I think it’s safe to say she is), then race trumps gender for a huge majority of black women.

All of that said, I doubt the governor fares as poorly among voters as this poll would seem to indicate. She does have some work to do on the P.R. front in order to persuade lazy voters who rely on sound bytes from the MSM to inform their decisions about candidates, but once she’s done that, I think she will be fine.

A) Romney/Pawlenty
B) Romney/Sanford
C) Romney/Jindal
D) Romney/Steele
E) Romney/Petraeus

joncoltonis on April 24, 2009 at 3:06 AM”
————————————
My dream team:
Mitt Romney/Jim DeMint

It is fine to be idealistic and to pick the very best person possible in the primary, but if that person then is not electable with the other half of the country, well, we still LOSE. I LOVE Sarah Palin, but I fear too many lies have been told that the other half will not see through (Besides, she’d make a fabulous Secy of Energy). Jim DeMint, on the other hand, will likely win over the Evangelicals almost as well as she would, because he as a leader is the closest thing we have to the Founding Fathers.
I would also love for DeMint to run with some other wonderful conservative as his VP pick, like Jindal or whomever. But we cannot throw tantrums and stay home like last time, even a few of us make a difference, especially when the Acorns caused a falsely bloated margin already. We’ve got to overcome that Acorn, et al, inflated aspect of the percentage, so we cannot afford to lose a single vote.
The key here must be LIBERTY, which presumes small government. We’ve got to stop trying to push too hard for our social issues (though they are important), if we want to maintain the most important thing, our freedom!
Most of all, we can’t let anyone, not even AP, keep us bickering at each other over religon. As Edmund Burke said, “When evil combines, the good must associate.”
We must put aside our petty differences and look at what matters, and work to put into power those who will preserve our Country, not destroy it, as the left is doing now….

By the time we get to the election though, Huckabee will be unable to run because he will be too easily attacked. He is on TV too much now and saying a lot that can come back to haunt him. The tapes would be sifted through by any opponent who will find plenty to attack him with.

This is the best arguement for closed primaries I’ve ever seen.

No you have been in the tank for awhile. the polls seem to show how far off you are from other voters re Sarah. This must be a very bitter pill for the HA Palinista faction.

Bradky on April 24, 2009 at 11:44 PM

You’re not paying attention. She picked up 8 points on Obama in one month in the PPP poll! She is also far and away the most popular with Republicans. There is a long time until 2012 to see what may happen.

Obama will decimate her in a debate. Think 40 state win for re-election in a Palin-Obama matchup.

Bradky on April 24, 2009 at 11:46 PM

Obama is a terrible debater and so was mcain
Did you actually liste to the debates ?
He says absoultey nothing and it takes him 15 minutes to do it.

Bradky on April 24, 2009 at 11:46 PM

Are you effing kidding? This is a joke, right? Obama humming and hawing without a teleprompter?? Hell I could debate him.

You betcha!

Mutnodjmet on April 24, 2009 at 12:41 PM

Obama will decimate her in a debate. Think 40 state win for re-election in a Palin-Obama matchup.

And the fact that he failed last time will present a considerable obstacle to getting the nomination this time.

Sarah failed as part of her team in November. That may present an obstacle as well.

Regardless, I’m keeping an open mind, but Sarah looks the best so far.

No you have been in the tank for awhile. the polls seem to show how far off you are from other voters re Sarah. This must be a very bitter pill for the HA Palinista faction.

Huckabee = 8 years of Obama.

Bluehanky on April 24, 2009 at 9:47 PM

I’ve slammed Huckabee repeatedly on the forum and I live in Arkansas. He is soft on immigration and a little to quick to jump on Hardball with Chris Mathews. He has flaws and I did not and do not appreciate what him and his followers did to Romney
But lest be serious, he is far far away from Obama.
He is very good on on some issue and is the best debater we have. He has serious media skills.
He and he can’t out capaign Mcain(not much of a chore there)
He is good on terror
He is good on Israel
He is pro life
He said the right things about the bailouts
No enviro statism, no national health care
Some of these point might be moot by 2012 but if he is the last guy standing I will vote for him and I’m guessing the hot air crowd will to after beating on him in the primarys.
We should be good and desparate by nov 2012, just look at us now after 100 days

And the fact that he failed last time will present a considerable obstacle to getting the nomination this time.

That said, I wouldn’t be too quick to dismiss him. He started the last primary as a second-or-third-tier candidate, and nearly walked away with the win. He’s a very good campaigner.

Mitt, for all his other advantages, isn’t.

Regardless, I’m keeping an open mind, but Sarah looks the best so far.

The problem with this theory is that Fred didn’t go after Romney.
ThereGoesTheNeighborhood on April 23, 2009 at 11:05 PM

FALSE. In the NH debates Fred tag teamed with McCain against Mitt, not Huck.

Meanwhile Huck never stopped whining about how Mitt was born with a silver spoon while he was just a po boy who didn’t even have a spoon. And that’s a fact, Jack.

Buy Danish on April 24, 2009 at 8:00 AM

I think you’re letting your preference for Mitt color your perceptions. I don’t buy the whole “stalking horse” theory to begin with. Running for president is too stressful for people to do without hope of a reward. And Fred is not known for working harder than he has to, but was following a bruising schedule towards the end.

And Fred destroyed Huckabee, much worse than Mitt.

That’s it.