The Rest Of The Stories, 9/25

Gov. Mike Huckabee's Vertical Day brought 35,000 eyeballs to his campaign website and a nice amount of late-in-the-quarter donations too. Huckabee's fundraising totals won't pop those eyes, but the campaign says it's happy with its 3rd quarter tallies. They wouldn't, however, give me a preview of the actual numbers.

This feud between the Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land and Focus on the Family's James Dobson is about a lot more than a spat over Fred Thompson.

ABC's Jake Tapper gets
J.C. Watts to call Republicans "stupid" for skipping the Tavis Smiley debate... er, the "black" debate.

Fred Thompson claimed 12 legislative endorsements in South Carolina today, in addition to the already-endorsed Rep. Gresham Barrett. Thompson appears on Sean Hannity today. But shouldn't Thompson be in South Carolina to collect the endorsements? Some anonymous ne'er-do-well is attacking Thompson again.

The RNC purchased banner ads on 39 New Hampshire and national political websites in advance of Wednesday night's Democratic debate. Here, you can play a make-fun-of-the-Democrats game. The banner ad shows only two Dems: Clinton and Obama. Are they not a-feared of Edwards?

Rudy Giuliani picked up the endorsement of former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan. Illinois is (a) 2/5 state and a general election state the Giuliani campaign thinks they can put in play.

Apparently, poststructuralists at Columbia agree: there aren't any gays in Iran.

The Supreme Court agreed to take a challenge to an Indiana voter photo identification law. They'll decide in time for 2008 -- in theory.

Comments

Huckabee might be asleeper pick as evangelicals get more frustrated with their mainstream choices. Huckster could be a protest candidate.

http://www.political-buzz.com/

Posted by matt | September 25, 2007 6:04 PM

Yeah, I'm with Matt on this one. As time goes on and Rudy Giuliani gains strength, conservatives are going to begin to panic. Given a choice between a Mormon and Mike Huckabee, I could definitely see alot of them flocking his way. Now, I'm not predicting miracles but let me put it this way: who do you think James Dobson and Newt Gingrich are most likely to endorse? Or the NRA (consider the alternatives on that one before you rule it out)? Fred Thompson definitely stands in his way but I kinda see Fred Thompson going the way of Wes Clark, these next couple months.

When push comes to shove, he needs to finish in the top three in Iowa. Third place isn't that hard to imagine. Again, I think the Mormon issue is pretty under the table at this point but may be the 900 pound Iowan elephant as January approaches. Second place would require a pretty colossal wave, but it's possible. He needs the big-name endorsements to raise the cash to run the TV ads that make him a household name. If that train of events begins to unfold, watch out.

Posted by grant | September 25, 2007 6:44 PM

Come on Marc you're more intelligent than that. The Columbia association didn't at all say that there no gays in Iran. It just said we shouldn't put our terminology on other societies that don't see social relations in the same way. If you can't understand that basic difference, it's really a shame.

Posted by Ron | September 25, 2007 7:33 PM

Good for Huckabee. If people knew him better, he'd be polling a lot better. On the flipside, once people learn more about Thompson, his stock will fall. I can't believe Thompson has so much support. I just read a post at www.forget-fred.blogspot.com that makes some good points on why Republicans shouldn't even waste time with Thompson.

Posted by Jeff | September 25, 2007 9:41 PM

Republicans do not need Mike Huckabee's brand of Nanny State Compasionate for Your Own Good Conservatism.

Republicans are acting like a bunch of girlie men lately. How is handing out flyers with Dobson's remarks "attacking Fred?"

Wasn't Freddie in the movie with the line something like, "That wasn't attacking, that was rubbing, and rubbing son, is politics?"

Posted by Liz | September 25, 2007 11:48 PM

Are Huckabee's fund totals going to be decent enough to allow him to travel to GOP gatherings? Or is he going to have to cancel on more of them?

Posted by Private Jet | September 26, 2007 1:14 AM

Mitt's the man with the leaderships and the skills to get the job done. His faith will become a 9-ounce (not 900-lb) elephant.

If you don't go with the best candidate you'll have someone like Thompson, or Rudy, or old John running the show in a few years. Yikes!

http://nyformitt.blogspot.com/

Posted by Willie | September 26, 2007 6:44 AM

Well, in a very squishy way, the Columbia Queer Gay Alliance made a very penetrating comment - if you can change the definition of words, or at least the labels of meaning of words, you are well on you way to winning the fight.

Sorry, but Huck's background shows that he is about as strong as, well, as limp as an overcooked brocoli. It's interesting, though, when a certain player on the Republican side starts getting good numbers, the Left's reaction is to start the 'Personal Destruction' attacks to tear him down. Nothing would be better for the Left than to have all of the Republicans' potential choices lost in the mire of a flat plain, with no one really head and shoulders above the rest.

Posted by beneficial | September 26, 2007 11:33 AM

It'd be nice to see Huckabee's campaign gaining a bit more steam, I've been rooting for him over at the unity08.com election since day one, although I'm hard-pressed to find a democrat to pair with him (maybe, MAYBE Edwards). Whether or not he'll have the inertia to actually pull through to the other side is another story.

I thought Marc's "no gays in Iran" thing was meant to be ironic, but maybe not. I doubt the Iranian president was arguing with semantics when he made the claim, so why even bother approaching him at his level (as the Columbia alliance has)? For the sake of the intellectual challenge? Anyhow, I have a feeling it'll be years before we totally unearth the truth about same-sex communities in the middle east, although when we do it'll be pretty darn interesting...

Posted by Nilson | September 26, 2007 4:43 PM

I don't think that the Christians in this country have spoken. And some report that that is 80% of our population. Most are reserving their selection for the presidency, letting the media windbags have their say first. In my opinion, Huckabee will be their choice, especially as more books and media outlets, like Fox, address the attack of the secular culture on the Christian family. Huckabee is the 'family canidate' and will start to gain top-tier support very soon. In retrospect, if you want to be the front runner, just enter the race before anyone else. Huckabee's message is just starting to be heard.

Posted by Paul | September 26, 2007 6:28 PM

Huckabee is the obvious choice for true social conservatives. Once voters realize Thompson's lack of ideas, and Romney's prior gusto for abortion rights they will falter. If any of the "Fab 4" are the nominee core Replubicans will either stay home or vote for a third party conservative. Republicans need to rally around a true social conservative, and that choice is Huckabee, or be prepared to loose to Hillary.

http://westcoasthuckster.blogspot.com/

Posted by Amanda | September 26, 2007 10:04 PM