It looks like everybody wants to be Mike Huckabee these days, now that he has removed his own toque from the ring. I find it a bit amusing. Why would anybody want to imitate or compare themselves with somebody who didn’t win? Actually, there are lots of reasons:
He is trusted by social conservatives, recently had great poll numbers, came from way behind to win the Iowa caucuses in 2008, and attracts people to himself who like likeable candidates.
Here is the plotline of the new “Like Mike” movie:
“Some hitherto unknown candidate becomes President of the United States after playing a bass guitar with the faded initials “M.H.” inside.”
Notice the headlines below.
Is Michele Bachmann Just Another Mike Huckabee?
Pawlenty campaign draws parallel to Huckabee in 2007
Santorum sees a Huckabee path
Herman Cain OK with being the ‘black Mike Huckabee
Mitt Romney, Tries Hard to Be Mike Huckabee
Yall Politics | S. Political Report – Barbour could be next Huckabee
I mostly find it funny, because hardly anybody is asking, “Who’s the new John McCain?” even though he won the Republican nomination. I don’t know who the next Mike Huckabee might be. The whole thing ought to flatter the former Governor of Arkansas. (Nobody has ever asked who the next David Shedlock will be!) Everyone wants to be the Mike Huckabee of 2012, except for one guy: Mike Huckabee.
Perhaps that is why the Huckabee shadow looms over the whole process and why his name keeps popping up. Few candidates have inspired dedicated followers and shown an ability to reach out beyond the base. Huckabee has done both. Republican voters keep looking for the guy (or gal) wearing a white hat and riding in on a white horse to save the day. Some conservatives have looked for a hero in Bobby Jindal, Mike Pence, Jon Huntsman, Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and now, Governor Rick Perry of Texas. But maybe, just maybe, the GOP will decide that it doesn’t need an imitation Mike Huckabee, it needs the real thing.
What might convince Governor Huckabee to change his mind and get in the race?
A Wave of Support: