Opinion of Mike Huckabee

[TDAS04]

A charming HP. 

[Goldwater]

Eh, FF I suppose.

[Maxwell]

The scariest voice for Social Conservatism, because he has a natural charm. I think he would've done better than McCain due to economic populism, though I also think the Republican brand was too badly damaged in 08 for any Pubbie to win.

[DC Al Fine]

My kind of Republican although his stances on foreign policy and immigration were questionable.

[RedSLC]

The scariest voice for Social Conservatism, because he has a natural charm. I think he would've done better than McCain due to economic populism, though I also think the Republican brand was too badly damaged in 08 for any Pubbie to win.

This.

Before he announced he wasn't running, he was leading in most 2012 polls as well, and had the best chance of winning out of any republican.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

HP on policies... charming, self-effacing and f'ing dangerous.

But I agree he was the single-biggest threat in 2008, conservative populism with a folksy smile. I remember seeing him speak for the first time in 2005 and thought "I don't want this guy ever running for president... we'd have a hard time beating him".

[Phony Moderate]

Probably lower than my opinion of the fella in the sig of the poster above.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

FF, I watch his TV programme every week.

[Sopranos Republican]

I can't really vote FF on account of his views. But he's a very likeable fellow, and I'd probably like him if I met him. As a guy FF, but since this is Individual politics HP.

[RogueBeaver]

I can't really vote FF on account of his views. But he's a very likeable fellow, and I'd probably like him if I met him. As a guy FF, but since this is Individual politics HP.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

A bro. Easy FF for moi.

[H. Ross Peron]

I can't really vote FF on account of his views. But he's a very likeable fellow, and I'd probably like him if I met him. As a guy FF, but since this is Individual politics HP.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The scariest voice for Social Conservatism, because he has a natural charm. I think he would've done better than McCain due to economic populism, though I also think the Republican brand was too badly damaged in 08 for any Pubbie to win.

This.

Before he announced he wasn't running, he was leading in most 2012 polls as well, and had the best chance of winning out of any republican.

That is just simply not the case.

In the 2011 polling that included him, I did a comparison and only state where he did better than Romney against Obama was NC, which Romney ended up winning in the end. Amongst the other states, Romney generally had numbers in line with his position nationally in most of those states and in more then enough to win the EC, whereas Huckabee wouldn't have had enough states within a reasonable range of the national PV to come close to winning the EC. It would be fair to say that Romney blew his comparative advantage over Huckabee throughout 2012 through mistakes and gaffes, were it not for one thing. Todd Akin.

Huckabee was the only one who stood by Akin, and what his worse, he blew off a similar incident back in the 1990's with someone else and then appointed that same guy who made a similar comment to a position dealing with matters of healthcare. Obama would have not only wrapped the Akin scandle right around Huckabee's neck, but strangled him with it.

Both from the perspective of 2011 and in hindsight, there is no way to square a claim that Huckabee would have done better then Romney with the facts presently available to either perspective.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

I don't like how he pushes ideological purity on the GOP, but he seems a little more open-minded.  Mild FF for that, massive FF otherwise.

[MATTROSE94]

The scariest voice for Social Conservatism, because he has a natural charm. I think he would've done better than McCain due to economic populism, though I also think the Republican brand was too badly damaged in 08 for any Pubbie to win.

You are definitely right about Mike Huckabee and how he would have done in 2008. I feel he would have carried all the McCain states and would have picked up North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa and maybe Florida and Virginia. In addition, I think Huckabee's faux economic populist message might have improved his performance among white working class voters. Either way, Mike Huckabee as President is actually a pretty scary thought considering his views.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I've never actually really thought about it before (I didn't take him too seriously), but yeah—he's probably one of the few Republicans who could've beaten Obama in 2008.