Unfortunately, I missed the debate live, but I am going to go watch the tape right now. I'll comment on it a little later. For now, check out the live blogging on Huckabee's Official Blog! Or you can read the debate transcript yourself here on CNN.com!
~Justin
Here's the second part of that debate transcript as well. Enjoy!
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Mike Huckabee is getting plenty of post-debate attention -- GOOD, BAD and UGLY -- following last night's CNN-YouTube Debate between Republican presidential candidates.
First, the GOOD -- Michael Goodwin at the New York Daily News recognizes what’s going on. The headline of his article this morning, Don’t look now, but Mike Huckabee is comin’ on strong, was accurate, and his opening paragraphs reinforce it:
-- Huck is rising, and now we know why. News reports that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is sprinting toward the front of the Republican pack have provoked lots of head-scratching and questions of "Who?" But anyone who watched Wednesday night's debate now understands much better who he is and why he is suddenly the GOP man to watch.
Now, the BAD -- Jason Tuohey appeared to know what's going on. He began his Boston Globe piece this morning this way:
-- Mike Huckabee’s campaign is surging, and he may have won the “Mr. Congeniality” award from last night’s debate, but some political analysts think the former Arkansas governor needs to start taking his candidacy more seriously.
In the next two paragraphs, however, he offered a counter-punch:
-- Conservative columnist and blogger Andrew Sullivan commented on Huckabee’s performance:
“(Huckabee) is easily the most appealing candidate for the current big-spending, evangelical, Southern Republican party. I don't find his religious schtick in any way appealing. It's glib in one area where glibness really is inappropriate. To say something like ‘Jesus was far too smart to seek public office’ may have a superficial appeal, but it is also a cheapening of Jesus' radical injunction to forswear worldly power and wealth.”
Tuohey failed to take into account that Sullivan is openly gay -- a fact that might have something to do with his reluctance to embrace Huckabee.
Finally, the UGLY -- It took three paragraphs to get there, but writer Liz Mair finally reached the misguided point behind the headline of her American Spectator article, Huckabee’s Religion Problem, today:
-- But the real question is, will his strategy of pushing religion to the forefront benefit him elsewhere, or is he taking a risk in employing it, so far as other early primary states are concerned?
-- If Liz had only paid attention to some of the latest poll results, she would have learned presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has taken the lead over his Republican opponents in Iowa and is closing the gap in several other states. So maybe, Liz, his religion is NOT a problem.
Attention like this "comes with the territory," they say, and it will be interesting to see how writers in the mainstream news media treat the former Arkansas governor from this point. More importantly, it will be interesting to see how many voters become HUCKABEELIEVERS™.
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