« Nothing Underscores The Gravity Of A Speech | Main | Romney's Speech, Annotated »

What NIE?

06 Dec 2007 09:53 am

Just in case you've missed this: two days ago, Huckabee was asked about the NIE yesterday and he indicated that he didn't know a new one had been released. His statement was met with incredulity -- don't candidates have, you know, staff, for things like that?

In many ways, though, Huckabee barely has a campaign. He hasn't needed one. His rise in the polls has been generated largely by the image that he projects as speaker and as as conservative Christian.

In campaign terms, where Mitt Romney has a juggernaut, Huckabee has a cult of personality, with everything orbiting around the sun. He has little time for policy -- indeed, aside from the Fair Tax, I had to Google "Huckabee" and "policy" to remind myself what he's proposed to do.

One conservative likens Huckabee to Jimmy Carter, possessed with enormous self-confidence about his ability to learn the stuff of foreign policy....but.. Incidentally, conservative bloggers have been savaging Huckabee for this lapse.

With low turnout projected for the Iowa caucuses, though, a candidate needs more than a face. He needs bodies on the ground, rapid response (and in that, his new hire, Joe Carter, performs just fine), policy surrogates (none yet), thousands of identified supporters (he's building the list), money to keep pace on television (Huckabee is buying time at less than half Romney's rate in Iowa)

Comments (2)

Pathetic... and this guy thinks he can run the country? How about paying some attention to one of the largest news stories of the past week!

good faith (no pun intended) is worth an army of staffers. hillary and edwards voted before reading it, that is inexcusable, not knowing an NIE had been released when most everyone is asking you about values is not. what is wrong with this country that all the people who have no say in politics are experts on the nie and those who have to make a decision about it don't bother to read it.