The GOP held another value voter debate last night. From the NPR report this morning, it sounded like Romney, McCain, Giuliani and Thompson simply fought each other over who was the most conservative among them. There were several mentions about Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment, “Thou shalt not talk poorly about another Republican.” And along with those mentions was the fact that Gov. Mike Huckabee chose not to get involved in the petty bickering.
NPR also made reference to the fact that Huckabee is now becoming a real contender for the top GOP spot, citing his 2nd place in the Iowa straw poll as well as 2nd place in a Florida straw poll over the weekend.
As soon as the audio is up online I’ll post a link to the story. Listen to the full story from NPR.
Here’s more reaction about the debate:
Matt Lewis, Townhall
Mike Huckabee is, indeed, a skilled debater. I think that he scored some points when he refused to attack the other candidates. It may be that McCain now needs to attack Romney — or that Thompson now needs to attack Rudy. But I don’t think Huckabee gains anything by going on the attack and becoming a “politician.”
RedState
Tonight’s GOP debate was truly the Huckabee and McCain show. Huck demonstrated the same smooth, articulate, can-sell-snake-oil-to-a-merchant demeanor that has propelled him to where he is now: one of the Big Five that actually deserves to still be attending these debates.
FOX News:
Mike Huckabee stepped out of the catfight with his first response to a question, noting that he’s “content to let you let them fight all they want tonight, shed each other’s blood and then I’ll be ready to run for president because I’m not interested in fighting these guys. What I’m interested in is fighting for the American people, and I think they’re looking for a presidential candidate who’s not so interested in a demolition derby against the other people in his own party.”
The former Arkansas governor then said that the “sanctity of human life” would be one of the top priorities he would fight for on behalf of the American people.
“When our founding fathers put their signatures on the Declaration of Independence, those 56 brave people, most of whom, by the way, were clergymen, they said that we have certain inalienable rights given to us by our creator, and among these life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, life being one of them. I still believe that,” he said.
But Huckabee didn’t take the challenge from Clinton so lightly.
“You know, it’s interesting, the most, I guess, wonderful reaction we’ve had in this entire room is when Hillary’s name is mentioned. It gets louder than an Aerosmith concert. But I want to say this — you’ve asked: What’s the difference? No matter which one of us is on this stage — and, look, I like to be funny, let me be real honest with you. There’s nothing funny about Hillary being president,” he said.
Brody File Reaction:
With Mike Huckabee, he was able to provide a nice mix of funny lines but more serious moments too. Here’s one of his best funny quips of the night:
“The reality is it’s a health crisis, and I would further say that one of the challenges we face is that a lot of the Democrats want to turn it over to the government, while the Republicans want to turn it over completely to the private insurance companies. I think the better idea is to turn it over to each individual consumer and let him or her make that choice. I trust me a lot more than I trust government or a lot more than I trust the insurance companies. And we’ve got a situation with 10,000 baby boomers a day signing up for Social Security, going into the Medicare system. And I just want to remind everybody when all the old hippies find out that they get free drugs, just wait until what that’s going to cost out there.”
A funny line but Huckabee needs to make sure he’s not seen as the presidential comedian up there. Sunday night, he took strides to do that. He made sure to speak tough on terror, he refused to take part in the political bickering between candidates. And then he turned serious about Hillary Clinton:
“But I want to say this — you’ve asked: What’s the difference? No matter which one of us is on this stage — and, look, I like to be funny, let me be real honest with you. There’s nothing funny about Hillary Clinton being president. Let me tell you why.
If she’s president, taxes go up, health care becomes the domain of the government, spending goes out of control, our military loses its morale, and I’m not sure we’ll have the courage and the will and the resolve to fight the greatest threat this country’s ever faced in Islamofascism.
We’ve got an enemy that wants to kill every last one of us. We cannot be soft. We must be strong. We’ll sign crazy bills like the Law of the Sea Treaty and give away our sovereignty. And that’s why, with all of the fun we’re going to have talking about it, there’s nothing funny about Hillary being president.”
Trasncription of Frank Luntz focus group:
Huckabee winning people over (Frank Lutz focus group) – Florida Debate Jump to Comments
Frank Lutz focus group: (these are comments from the participants in the focus group)
They need to give Mike Huckabee more time to talk.
I was a Thompson supporter before this, but Mike Huckabee won me over.
Mike Huckabee has good ideas, but they give him one question then they give Rudy 3 … they have to let Huckabee talk.
Clinton was an unknown governor from Arkansas, Mike Huckabee will break through.
These guys told me that Huckabee would win the debate and I just laughed at them. Now that I’ve heard him, I’m changing my support to Mike Huckabee.
Frank Lutz said “Mike Huckabee had a very good night at this debate – even without a lot of time to talkâ€.
NRO: Rudy, Fred, and Huck Were Best
Mike Huckabee: After the FRC summit, he’s the social conservative choice, and if he gets the nomination, Hillary won’t know what hit her. This guy can sell ice to Eskimos. Kept his momentum, and played against his “the funny one” typecasting with his argument, “there’s nothing funny about Hillary Clinton as Commander in Chief.”
Reid Wilson, Real Clear Politics
“Huckabee again stole a large portion of the show. A focus group conducted by prominent Republican pollster Frank Luntz showed many called the Arkansan the surprise, adding to an already big week for his campaign. Earlier, Huckabee won a straw poll of attendees to the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit, in Washington, with more than half the votes. Romney, by comparison, finished second with just ten percent.
‘I’m competing against guys who are spending tens of millions of dollars and I’m neck and neck with them,’ Huckabee told Fox News in a post-debate interview.â€
