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THE HUCKABEE TANKING MOMENT?
Mike Huckabee’s campaign today took a turn from the unconventional to the bizarre. At a noon press conference at the downtown Des Moines Marriott, Mike Huckabee rolled out his new “Enough is Enough” television response ad by announcing that he was not running the ad and had told stations to pull it.
Huckabee said the original plan for the press conference was to run the two Mitt Romney “Judgment” negative ads against him and the show his “counterpunch” response. “Hopefully this is an ad you will not see in Iowa,” Huckabee said. The original plan for the press conference, he said, was to show the two Romney “Judgment” attack ads and then show their ad. But about an hour before, he decided to call networks and ask them to pull it.
Actually, in a moment of cynicism rarely so transparent, Huckabee did show the ad, which the media then obligingly audio- and videotaped. The campaign also had podium backdrop banner emphasing Huckabee’s “Enough is Enough” slogan, plus five big poster boards attacking Romney’s claims on a policy issues, from taxes and crime.
Huckabee said that if Iowans are going to make a decision about his candidacy based on a 30-second attack ads against him, “there’s not a lot I can do to change that.” When I asked him if in fact they thought the Romney ads were had in fact damaged him, he said: “I think we had to believe that they were hurting us. Obviously you don’t counterpunch if you don’t think it’s doing damage to you. So yes, it hurt me.”
After pointing out that Romney has outspent him “20 to 1” in Iowa and should therefore be beating him by a wide margin, Huckabee conceded it might be a mistake not to go negative in response. “The point is that I’m taking a risk here. I know that. If this decision makes it so [Romney] pulls away in a dramatic way, then I’ll be the last guy ever to do this. But I wanted to be the first to try.”
Frankly, the whole event had a certain “moment the campaign tanked” feel to it. I don’t think people are buying it. The move to pull it before it runs yet release it looks like either an attempt to what might have been a backfiring ad, or an attempt to get a lot of free media for that ad he otherwise would not have had the money or time to execute properly. Whatever the case, Huckabee looked decidedly amateurish.
--Tom Schaller
COMMENTS (14)
For a stunt like this to work, the media would have to be astonishingly credulous. [Banal punch line TK -- Ed.]
Posted by: alkali | December 31, 2007 2:57 PM
Maybe, but ... this sure seems like inside baseball. If you're a Huck fan who thinks Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs like Fred Flintstone, why does this ad-flap matter? In a sane country, a guy like Huckabee is teaching gym in a Little Rock suburb.
Posted by: Nick | December 31, 2007 3:00 PM
Huckabee is tanking for a good and simple reason: he's too simple to be good.
Did I just hear an egg timer?
Posted by: Will Argyle | December 31, 2007 4:01 PM
What a sneaky, clueless move.
Huckabee just broke the first rule of politics: If you're gonna be an ass, don't get caught wearing the ears.
That's not an egg timer you hear, it's Howard Dean.
Posted by: Russ Miller | December 31, 2007 4:11 PM
His time is up. On to the next loon with an R by his name.
Posted by: ohcomeon | December 31, 2007 4:57 PM
"If you're a Huck fan who thinks Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs like Fred Flintstone, why does this ad-flap matter? In a sane country, a guy like Huckabee is teaching gym in a Little Rock suburb."
Yeah, well. This morning I was reading an article that the Greeks may well have invented the gryphon and other monsters from investigating fossil beds in the Mediterranean.
You liberal dogmatists have no imagination.
Posted by: Anonymous | December 31, 2007 5:00 PM
I think it may be fully clever by half - Huck looks amateurish... but that's his appeal: real, folksy guy who doesn't know how to do this big time like you city slickers. So he got caught up and was all set to go negative... and then his better angels told him not to (um, that would be, er, God). So he shows what the devil nearly made him do, says he won't do it, and then says if he loses because of it... well, he decided to be good. Amateur? That strikes me as genius.
Posted by: weboy | December 31, 2007 5:42 PM
huckabee is a snake
Posted by: clv129 | December 31, 2007 6:03 PM
my guess is that he didn't have enough money to actually run the ads. anyone check with the local stations to see if the actually got an ad buy?
Posted by: gfw | December 31, 2007 6:11 PM
I was secretly hoping that Huckabee's campaign would tank in a different way - by reporters discovering that he lied about his weight loss. From the evidence, it looks like he had gastric bypass surgery.
In case you haven't read about it, see the following link.
http://plutarch01.wordpress.com/2007/12/11/new-121007-300pm/
Posted by: bob | December 31, 2007 7:23 PM
So while Huckabee is complaining about Romney's issue ads being negative, he was making his own negative ads. Then he goes to air them and changes his mind. Was it because he has a conscience or was it because of the gross errors in the ads such as saying Romney did not perform any executions, some that was no lawful in Massachusetts.
Either way, the Huckster was busted and should suffer but those of his faith will unfortunately overlook his his numerous flaws that disqualify him to be President.
Posted by: Jim | December 31, 2007 11:32 PM
Suppose Governor Huckabee did have gastric bypass surgery. So what? Has he ever claimed flatly that he did not? The article linked by bob acknowledges the "ambiguous" nature of any ostensible denials.
There is plenty to give pause about the prospect of Mike Huckabee as president, but whether his weight loss did or did not result from surgery is a red herring. Let's respect the man's privacy in a manner that he is apparently unwilling to afford respect to others.
BTW, as one who hasn't missed too many meals myself, I joke that I tried the Jane Fonda workout videos, but the only one I could seem to get the hang of was Klute.
Posted by: John in Nashville | January 1, 2008 4:42 AM
HA! What kind of idiot does this guy think we are? This was a set up from the beginning and he thinks we (the American people) are so stupid that we should believe him. If he lies about something as trivial as this, why should we believe he will not lie about everything else? If he doesn't have the backbone to just standup and run a negative ad, how in the world would he have the backbone to standup to polls or terrorist nations? The guy thinks we are buffoons and truly believes that he has fooled us.
Note: I have read some of the posts around other news sites and I stand corrected. Some people do accually believe he did this out of the kindmess of his heart. Captivating!
Posted by: Chris from Iraq | January 1, 2008 5:38 AM
Frankly, the whole event had a certain “moment the campaign tanked” feel to it.
You are totally wrong, or at least wrong about this hurting Huckabee. Of course it was a stunt but I doubt GOP voters in Iowa read it the same way you and I do. Huckabee will win Iowa and will claim it was because he took the "high road."
Posted by: todd | January 1, 2008 12:33 PM