Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee continues to build strength, relatively speaking. Yesterday was the NYC marathon, so I’ll use a marathon metaphor: since his Iowa straw poll victory, the Huckster has gone from a five-hour pace to a three-hour pace — but that doesn’t put him anywhere near the elite runners.
The former Arkansas governor is cultivating the evangelical vote, one congregation at a time. USA Today catches up with him in Texas, where he’s doing the church circuit and raising money:
Huckabee’s campaign said its online fundraising for October topped $1 million and exceeded by $1 his entire take for July through September. He picked up $100,000 on Saturday at an event in DeSoto, south of Dallas.[...]
David Redlawsk, co-director of the Hawkeye Poll, said candidates don’t have to be “incredibly rich” to succeed in Iowa, but they need to have a staff to “get people out to caucuses.” The Des Moines Register reported Romney has a paid staff of 67 in Iowa, compared with eight for Huckabee. But Redlawsk added that Huckabee does have something his Republican opponents don’t: “a strong base of evangelical Christians.”
Evangelicals do have money — there’s an entire array of businesses devoted just to chasing their dollars — but the real GOP money elite continues to oppose Huckabee. The Club for Growth, for instance, is still pounding him:
The Club for Growth, a Washington group that campaigns against tax increases, produced a list of levies put in place while Huckabee was governor, including taxes for sales, fuel, beer and cigarettes. “This is all about a ploy for the vice presidency,” said Pat Toomey, the club’s president. “He knows he can’t run with the big dogs here.”
Toomey’s wrong about a lot of things, but he’s probably right about Huckabee: this is an excellent campaign for the vice-presidential nomination.
Something to say?
