Michigan Supporters tell McCain Camp only Huckabee can mobilize GOP base
Backers point to Rasmussen, Zogby polls
Michigan Supporters tell McCain camp
only Huckabee can mobilize GOP base
Michigan supporters of former Gov. Mike Huckabee's presidential candidacy Monday said they have delivered a statement to Sen. John McCain's campaign urging McCain to select Huckabee as his vice presidential running mate.
The Huckabee supporters and other social conservatives in Michigan and nationally last week were shocked by the McCain camp's serious discussion of selecting a running mate who favors legal abortion on demand.
The statement -- delivered by e-mail and fax Monday to McCain's Michigan and national campaign headquarters -- reads as follows:
1. It is our belief that a large number of Christians do not currently plan to vote for Senator McCain because of his past positions and statements on issues of concern to Christian voters. This includes many voters who were not previously involved politically but were activated to support a Republican presidential campaign by former Gov. Mike Huckabee.
* A poll published earlier this year by the Christian Post found that Sen. Barack Obama and even Sen. Hillary Clinton outpolled McCain among Christian conservatives. (Notably, former Gov. Mike Huckabee was by far the most popular candidate among those polled.)
* Newsweek reported Friday that "a new poll from the Barna Group, a Christian research firm, shows Obama leadingMcCain 43 percent to 34 percent among likely Christian voters, with advantages among non-evangelical born again Christians (43% to 31%); notional Christians (44% to 28%)...Catholics (39% vs. 29%); and Protestants (43% to 34%). The only Christian subgroup (Obama) isn't winning? Evangelicals."
2. We strongly believe that if Gov. Huckabee is part of the Republican Party ticket, many, many more of these Christians and Huckabee supporters will not only vote for the McCain ticket but will do something far more important: actively and enthusiastically work for its success.
3. The coalition supporting Gov. Huckabee has only grown in recent months, as evidenced by the Denver Letter to Sen. McCain signed by Christian activist leaders nationally.
4. Of all possible vice presidential candidates who would be acceptable to pro-life, pro-family voters, there is little question that Gov. Huckabee has the highest name identification and recognition nationally. We believe his selection would overnight give the McCain ticket something it currently lacks and most likely cannot win without: a national network of values voters and volunteers passionately committed to the values and message brought forth this past year by Gov. Huckabee.
5. Thus, this statement does not reflect merely our personal preference for the candidate we supported during the primary election contests. It reflects our political judgment that selecting Gov. Mike Huckabee as the vice presidential candidate is the quickest and surest way to exciting, activating, and mobilizing the socially conservative base of the Republican Party nationwide, the very coalition Sen. McCain recently said no Republican could win without. [Detroit News: "(James) Muffett said Friday that during the meeting, McCain (said) he respected social conservatives' views (and) believed that Republican presidents from Ronald Reagan on could not have won without them."]
6. Further, two recent professional public opinion polls validated not only our political judgment but Gov. Huckabee's appeal to all voters, not just social conservatives.
* A Rasmussen poll three weeks ago found that among all general election voters, Gov. Mike Huckabee had the highest favorable ratings among all possible vice presidential candidates included in the survey. (Notably, the same poll found that former Gov. Mitt Romney had the highest unfavorability rating of all possible candidates included.)
* A Zogby poll four weeks ago found that "among likely voters, 27% would be more likely to support McCain with Huckabee on the ticket," the highest percentage of all possible vice presidential candidates included in the survey. http://zogby.com:80/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1530
7. Conversely, it is our judgment that the quickest and surest way Sen. McCain could alienate, demoralize, and deactivate social conservative activists and voters nationwide would be to select a vice presidential candidate who they believe does not share their values and worldview. Those would include former Gov. Mitt Romney, former Gov. Tom Ridge, Gov. Charlie Crist, Sen. Joe Lieberman, and others
8. While other possible vice presidential candidates are believed to share socially conservative values and would thus be philosophically acceptable -- Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Gov. Bobby Jindal, Rep. Rob Portman, Gov. Mark Sanford, Gov. Sarah Palin, and others -- none of them has national name identification and a national organization of volunteers committed to their support comparable to Gov. Mike Huckabee. For example, the same Zogby poll which found that 27 percent of likely voters would be more likely to vote for McCain with Gov. Huckabee on the ticket, found that putting Gov. Jindal on the ticket would move only 5 percent to be more likely to support McCain, while Pawlenty motivated only 3 percent.
9. In summary, Gov. Mike Huckabee's selection as Sen. McCain's running mate would motivate more American voters to support Sen. McCain's candidacy than any other possible running mate, and it would mobilize a pre-existing grassroots network of social conservative activists and volunteers that no other potential running mate could match, not even those philosophically acceptable to the Republican base.
10. The election of Sen. Barack Obama is unthinkable. Because we want Sen. McCain to succeed, and because we believe his vice presidential selection may be determinative in whether he has the grassroots volunteer support required for a Republican victory, we strongly and respectfully urge Sen. McCain to help us help him -- and make iteasy, not hard, for us to persuade others to support and work for his candidacy -- by selecting former Gov. Mike Huckabee as his vice presidential running mate.
Respectfully submitted,
Huckabee's Michigan Grassroots Coalition
Trackback URL for this post:
Marked your site as camp at MyNetFaves!
Debra, you have brought up some excellent facts
I, too, believe that Mike Huckabee is the best VP for McCain, and the stats support that assumption. In addition, he is an excellent communicator, particularly on kitchen table issues, who would give Obama's VP a real run for the money in a debate. He has no connect with the establishment, so he cannot be tied to the elite side of the Republican label so unpopular this year, and he has more executive experience than any other VP contender. His compassion for people is evidenced in his recent trip to Rwanda with Cindi McCain and his visit to Israel with prominent Jewish leaders this week. McCain/Huckabee is the best twosome for a win in 2008!!!
Huck would be a good pick
I don't see his name mentioned a lot , lately I hear Ridge, Romney or even Lieberman. Huck would be a better choice than those guys.
I'd like to see Rudy, but that won't happen.
Not Huckabee, please!
I am an Evangelical Christian that does not like Huckabee. I used to be a strong supporter of his, even voted for him in the primary. The way he is out to get Romney and ruin him really bothers me. He released a statement last week kinda daring McCain to pick Romney. When it comes to Romney, Preacher/Pastor Huckabee has shown a mean and ugly side. It reminds me of the way Bill Clinton acts toward Obama, only Clinton is nicer! That has bothered me so much, that I turn off the T.V. when I see Huckabee. As far as I know, Romney has not done anything to Huckabee nor has he responded in any way to the ugly attacks by Huckabee. I would never support anyone that tears down another Republican like he does and it is unchristian-like behavior. I say Rudy, Romney or J.C. Watts. There just isn't much to pick from. Watts would be great, youthful and refreshing!
TRobinson, I haven't seen
any mean-spiritness in Huckabee; however, I certainly have seen the media distort his remarks on many occasions. I suggest you review his ACTUAL comments - I, for one, do not see any meanness in any of his comments. In fact, I have always seen him give all of his challengers the benefit of the doubt and demonstrate courtesy and civility in his comments.
I find your suggestions for VP interesting - J.C. Watts is a good one, but I cannot support Rudy or Romney because of their positions on marriage and abortion. Do you like Michael Steele or Tom Coburn?
Both
I really like Steele. He can be serious and light-hearted, a sincere guy. He is a breath of fresh air. I agree with your comments about Huckabee until it comes to Romney. He seems to more than dislike him. I don't listen to the media and I only believe what I hear and see myself. I guess we see it differently, the same way two witnesses see the same thing in different ways. Yet, during the debates, McCain and Huckabee were pretty rough on Romney and I don't believe he deserved that. It seemed mean and meaningless as did the statement Huckabee put out last week about Romney as a potential VP pick. Romney could run for the Senate and Lord knows we need more electable Republicans. So, any attacks that hurt him, hurts the party and the conservative cause. That is all I'm trying to say. Don't you agree?
I don't believe in tearing down fellow Republicans; however,
I did not see Huckabee's remarks last week or during the primaries as an attack on Romney. I thought he (as a Fox contributor) was attempting to show the possible negatives; he also spoke about the possibility of pro-choice possibilities and their negatives. I will say that during the primaries, many of the pundits stated that they detected that ALL of the other Republican contenders seemed to dislike Romney. It is also interesting that Romney had the highest unfavorable ratings (47%) of any candidate from either party except Hillary Clinton.
I don't mean to be argumentative; I just think we disagree on Huckabee's motivation and intent.
Actually, mate, Romney --
Actually, mate, Romney -- who was my Governor -- is worse than Huckabee even knows. What a fraud. What a glib fraud. Other than establishing maqndated hesalth care here in MA, he DID nothing and SAID too much, all of it glib and about as flavorful as a stale saltless cracker.
Huckabee is THE best choice
and i'm not an Evangelical Christian.
All that aside re the big to do between McCain,Romeny and Huckabee;Gov Huckabee is STILL the best choice for VP.
Remember,Romney went after McCain and McCain was not too thrilled w/ Romney's tactics from the beginning.So to say Hucakbee was out to get Romney isn't exactly the case.Were they in the race? Yep.Were they ALL competing.YEP. And did the other candidates INCLUDING Sen McCain have a problem with Romney?Yep.I'm not saying i don't like Mitt or have something against him. Just the facts here.
Mike deserves the nod.He came in 2nd. Let's look at some of those facts.Everyone kept calling for Mike to drop out.Mike had stated that once someone reached the required delegates he'd concede.Until then Gov Huckabee had just as much right to stay in the race as anyone.The rules state so many delegates.THEN the race is over.
If Gov Huckabee had taken Texas it could have easily gone to a brokered convention.Altogether possible and that means he actually stood a chance of getting the nomination.
IMHO Mike could have taken Texas except i think that the media had convinced SOME of the Huckabee supporters that it was already over and there was no point in voting for Mike.
(you also had a small % of RP supporters siphoning off votes Mike could have gotten).
Had Gov Huckabee taken Texas this might have been a whole different story.
Now why Mike would be a good VP choice:
1.His support is SOLID.You're not going to meet a harder working group of ppl than his supporters. They will TOTALLY get behind a McCain/Huckabee ticket.
2. They're ENTHUSED supporters.The one thing the Rep ticket could use is enthusiasm.Not this percentage that are voting Rep because it's better than Obama.
(which is true;but not the point)
3.A lot of what was said/written about Mike was smear.I checked him out thorougly.This man is outstanding.Once ppl get to know him (without the filter)they are impressed.Not JUST evangelical Christians.
4.I've run into a number of Democrats that said they could really get behind a McCain/Huckabee ticket.You're shocked?! Me too.But that's what i've heard from a no of Dems.
5.Mike is qualified.Mike is 55-the babyboomers can relate to him and there are a LOT of us.Obama appeals to the younger(and in some instances uninformed)voter.Ppl age 55 and up are usually very well informed.McCain needs this demographic.
6. If McCain were to pick Tom Ridge-the baloon that was floated-he's going to lose support.He finally had the problem of getting the conservative,pro life and family and evangelicals to support him under his belt and then the word gets out about Ridge? That was like shooting himself in the foot.
Ridge was not all that popular in Pa. I should know.
7. If Mike can get his message out he's the exact opposite of Obama.
He's not elitist.A lot of us baby boomers can relate to his upbringing.BTW. We hunt and eat squirrel here. lol
8 Huckabee will generate excitement,enthusiasm and the Huck supporters will get right on the ball.
We'll make sure the McCain/Huckabee ticket wins. Look what Mike accomplished on a shoe string!! Pretty amazing wasn't it?
I have no doubt in my mind.Gov Huckabee is the right choice!!
I don't believe these
I don't believe these "Christian" activists' polls for a minute. If that is the character of the "activists" pushing Mike Huckabee, then I say TO ELL WITH THEM. What a nerve!
That said, I agree that Mike Huckabee is a good running mate for Big Mac. But he DOES NOT have THE SLIGHTEST experience necessary to GOVERN with Big Mac, as a modern VP must.
Yep :Huckabee DOES
"But he DOES NOT have THE SLIGHTEST experience necessary to GOVERN"
He was lt govenor of Ark and a 2 term Gov of Ark in a highly Dem state.
The office of Gov is as close to the office of Pres. as you can get.
It's a mircosm of the Fed.
In fact a Gov has closer experience to running the Fed gov than a seat on the Senate does.No offense intended.Just fact.
He ran an awesome campaign,came in 2nd out of virtually nowhere on a shoe string budget.That alone says something.
And he conceded graciously as he said he would.
Mike has had great experience.As a 2 term Gov-in fact he was voted one of the top 5 by Time magazine but just as importantly he's had great experience of dealing with ppl in their everyday lives.He did not come from a privileged background.He understands the regular person out here.
He accomplished all that he has from the meager beginnings he had and believes in this country!!
That is definitely experience.
So to say he has NO experience-not exactly accurate.
Experience???
Perhaps you are not aware that Mike Huckbee has eleven years experience as the Republican governor of Arkansas. He was elected to that office more than once in a very democrat state. Time Magazine recognized him as an outstanding governor, and he was chosen to head whatever they call the national governor's organization. As governor he cut taxes, balanced the budget, drastically improved public education in Arkansas, with a huge increase in test scores and Advance Placement testing. (BTW, home school associations enthusiastically endorse him too) Arkansas saw great improvements in infrastructure, and everything he achieved as a VERY successful governor (that is called EXECUTIVE experience, which will mesh nicely with Senator McCain's military and legislative background)was done in a state long dominated by the Clinton democrat machine. Take the time to compare his experience the other possible VP contenders--nobody else even comes close.
I'm a Christian. Don't know if you would call me an activist or not. I pass for literate, articulate and reasonably intelligent. And Huckabee impresses me even more than Reagan did. (Yes, I remember him.)
Interesting quote
“Who knows what the future will hold?” Romney said in 2005. “Most likely, we’ll all stay as governors or find other offices, but we need to make sure that we have a strong person who can take the baton from President Bush, and Gov. Huckabee is certainly one of those individuals. He’d make a fine president.”
http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2007/12/11/week_in_review/news/sunday/ne...
Huckabee Rocks!
Romney was my first choice during the primary -- then I looked into his record. I watched is YOUTUBE video where he debated Ted Kennedy -- and he was MORE LIBERAL THAN TED!!! Then I learned he appointed 36 judges while Govenor - but ONLY 9 were republicans! And, 2 were Gay Activists!!! Is it any wonder his state was the First to initiate Gay Marriages under his watch.
If I wanted to vote for a Democrat, I'd vote for OBAMA -- if McCain picks Romney -- a RINO -- I'll be disgusted.
The only hope for his ticket is to pick Huckabee -- it's the only way to win the Social Conservatives back to his ticket. From what I'm seeing, they're disgusted that McCain's even considering a Pro ABORTION VEEP. So much for a candidate we can trust to push forward our Social Conservative Agenda!
All of which I fed to Big
All of which I fed to Big Mac's campaign during the primary, as "opposition research," I being from MA.
Mind you I am in no way opposed to giving gay people marriage rights. It is their life choice, their life to live. My sister in law has married her partner of 20 years, they have a son (my sister in law is the actual physical mom), and they are a wonderful family. That Romney helped bring this about is to his credit; that he obviously didn't believe a word of it -- and/or doesn't believe a word of what he was saying during the primary -- is to his discredit. I can't say I have, at this point, even one smidgen of respect for the man. Yet igt was close. He fooled A LOT of people, for a very extended period of time.
Actually, Bill Weld, a
Actually, Bill Weld, a rock-ribbed libertarian conservative, was our MA governor who brought gay people strongly into MA government. Two of his cabinet were gay men -- both still rank high in MA government bureaucracy and have done fine jobs. Both are Republicands. One -- Dan Grabauskas -- ran for State Auditor and won 44 % of the vote, a creditable showing for a Massachusetts Republican.
As Barry Goldwater said, on the issue of gays in the military, "I don't care if you ARE straight, only that you SHOOT straight!!"
But of course that brand of conservatism doesn't seem to impress those who believe that the Bible is 100 % the absolute final truth and that American government should impose it on us. That's all we need -- our version of Islamo fundamntalist sharia law.....NOT!
Mike Huckabee. I like him. I
Mike Huckabee. I like him. I don't think he's ready to be President. Well, of the Baptist Conference, yes, maybe he is ready to be president of that. He is a very personable, caring guy. I'd like him as my pastor. Reverend Wright, he isn't -- fortunately.
i think he's THE best choice for VP
his being a pastor may be a first;but i don't think that's a detremint at all.He's fast on his feet,one heck of a debator(knows his subjects)and doesn't need a teleprompter.He can stand toe to toe with anyone and not get ugly.
He'd give McCain the states he won handily.He'd give him the states he COULD have won.
And the Huck supporters are enthused and steadfast.They know what they've got.
Something bout this man was more than his being a pastor that got him the popular support he had.
If McCain got those ppl behind a McCain/Huckabee ticket they'd work like crazy to get him elected.
Smartest move McCain could make.BTW.Michigan is right.ONLY Huckabee can really mobolize voters.That's not bragging.It's just true.
Huckabee/Biden!!! I would LOVE to see it
The best thing going for Huckabee right now is the VP debate. I don't care who you were/are for, you gotta want to see it!! I am from the camp that will never understand how people can separate there faith from their politics. For me my faith guides every decision I make, because this world isn't my home. That being said, Joe Biden is no Mike Huckabee. I am always amazed at how Huckabee could keep his cool when the hatred was directed at him. Just for a little background, a lot of "evangelicals" feel like certain parts of the party think they have no business running for office. That is were the anger comes from. Not that we didn't win, but how we were treated. I worked for his campaign and I will shout it from the roof tops if anyone would listen. Evangelicals only make up PART of Huckabee support. You can shoot the GOP in the foot by not looking at this realistically, because you don't like what you find when you do. I didn't give Huckabee a second look in the beginning because he was "too liberal." But my ears just didn't hear it when I actually listened. Wake up GOP! Do you want to win?????
"Wake up GOP! Do you want to
"Wake up GOP! Do you want to win?????"
Yep.Exactly what i've been saying and i'm with you.I'm shouting it to the rooftops too. I often get the feeling we're preaching to the choir and nobody's listening.But when we lose this election they needn't look to us.We TRIED to tell them.