Huckabee Hopes To Rise To The Top

Mike Huckabee holds a town hall meeting at Smokey Row on January 7th, 2016.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – It was the second time the former Arkansas Governor made a stop in Oskaloosa this campaign season.

He was at Clow Value on May 6th of this year, making Oskaloosa the first stop on his 2016 presidential bid.

His return to Oskaloosa had less fanfare than before, but the candidate looks to make his grassroots efforts pay off on February 1st, caucus night.

Smokey Row once again played host, and nearly 40 people filled the meeting room to hear the 2008 Iowa Caucus winner.

Thursday marked Huckabee’s completion of the ‘Full Grassley’, which is a tour of all 99 counties in Iowa. He celebrated the accomplishment at the Keokuk County line with a photo op.

In an effort to pull off the upset, the campaign will see a grueling 150 events for the month of January.

The Iowa Caucus has been notoriously tough to predict, with many candidates pulling out to the front in the polls just days before the votes are cast. Iowans are particularly skilled at testing out each candidate until the very end, many not knowing who they will vote for precisely until they arrive at their designated caucus locations and talk with others in their party.

Huckabee is counting on that this time around, much like Santorum in 2012 and Barack Obama in 2008.

After his townhall meeting, Huckabee took questions from reporters, telling them there isn’t any shortcut to winning the Iowa Caucus. “If somebody finds a shortcut, it could be the end of the Iowa Caucus and its importance.”

Huckabee said that it could be a detriment, not only to Iowa but also to the country, if the caucus lost its importance to Iowans. “The value of candidates who have to come and work hard and retail campaign is a value to the country because it means you’re going to talk to people from all over the spectrum, that you’re never going to meet if all you do is go have high dollar fundraisers in New York and buy TV ads. God help us when that happens.”

Huckabee said he’s out to win the Iowa Caucus the “old fashioned way, outworking everybody else.”

As the end nears, the mud begins to fly in earnest. Huckabee says that he is a “pretty civil guy and it’s probably cost me, because I would have had a better debate position had I been willing to go after the other candidates.”

With a large Republican field seeking the nomination for 2016, the prime time debates have taken some scrutiny because of the format of high polling candidates taking the main prime time stage, with candidates that are not as high in the polls being relegated to what can best be described as the junior varsity game.

“The debate process has been somewhat disastrous in that it has often resembled more of a game show than it has a thoughtful discussion of the issues that should decide the next president. One of the things that happens is that the more colorful things a person says, the more air time they get. The more air time they get, the better the debate position. The better the debate position, the better the poll numbers. And therefore it’s a circle we keep seeing. It’s not necessarily been a thoughtful and objective approach to winnowing out the candidates.”

You can learn more about Huckabee at his website HERE – https://www.mikehuckabee.com/