The Arkansas Project

Huck Tour Shirts Only $50

By David Kinkade - December 3, 2008 6:37 am

Via the K. Ryan James blog, I see that Team Huckabee “Do the Right Thing” book tour shirts are now on sale. (You can see them in action here.) So if you’ve got a spare $50 in your pocket and a yen to wear an absolutely ridiculous looking shirt that looks like it was designed by an 11-year-old, now’s your chance to order, but don’t blame me when the other kids kick your ass for being an incredible dork.

Saltsman Gaining Steam in RNC Push?

By David Kinkade - December 2, 2008 7:32 am

(Image: Wall St. Journal)

We’ve checked in occasionally on former Mike Huckabee presidential campaign manager Chip Saltsman, who steered a candidate with no money and little name recognition to a series of surprise successes in the 2008 GOP primaries and is now making a bid to be the next chair of the Republican National Committee.

Is Saltsman picking up steam in his quest?:

The former gov is full-bore behind his man.

Blogging political operative Tim Griffin reports on his meeting in Little Rock with Saltsman, who’s making the rounds of the region in his single engine plane. (Griffin also suggests that the “conventional wisdom” is with one of the other hopefuls.)

Blogger Jason Tolbert looks at Saltsman’s plan for action and likes what he sees.

The Arkansas Project doesn’t normally cover these D.C. issues too extensively, but should Saltsman take the helm at the RNC, it would certainly strengthen Huckabee’s hand as a player in party politics. Obviously. It’s a long-shot bid, but one to watch.

Huck Book #5 on New York Times Bestseller List

By David Kinkade - November 29, 2008 10:37 am

Mike Huckabee (file photo circa 2005)

I’d missed this earlier, but Mike Huckabee’s new book “Do the Right Thing” hit number five on the New York Times best-seller list this week. Here’s the full list.

In other Huckabee news, the special guest tonight on his FOX News show is Ashley Smith, who persuaded an escaped prisoner to give himself up after a killing spree by talking to him about religion. Remember that? Remember? No? It happened back in 2005, if that helps. It was a really big deal at the time, I swear.

In other timely “Huckabee” news, he’ll feature an up-to-the-minute special segment tonight focusing on whether or not New Orleans is prepared to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. I’m on the edge of my seat!

Huckabee: Early Iowa, NH Primaries a Good Thing

By David Kinkade - November 27, 2008 3:02 pm

Here’s Gov. Mike Huckabee sucking up to Iowa and New Hampshire voters explaining why it’s a good thing that Iowa and New Hampshire are the first in the nation primaries (or in the case of Iowa, caucuses) for presidential politics. The reason: Folks in the two early states are “seasoned political veterans” on account of all the time they’ve spent encountering candidates:

Every aspect of the argument here is absurd, of course. If there’s one thing I love about the fact that we’re three weeks past a presidential election, it’s that I know that for the next couple of years, I won’t have to listen to the wise pontification of those flinty New Hampshire voters, or watch clips of presidential hopefuls wandering around some random county fair in Iowa eating pork chops on a stick and shaking hands with those good salt of the earth Iowa voters. They just don’t want to move the early primaries somewhere else because if we did, no one one would ever have any reason to visit their stupid states. Don’t get me started on Iowa and New Hampshire.

Update: On the other hand, here’s good video from the same sitting with Huck calling the financial sector bail-out “the dumbest thing that Congress has done in a long time.” He notes that, had John McCain come out against the bail-out during the 2008 campaign, it might have changed the outcome of the election—or at the very least, would have “changed the dynamic.” Indeed.

And here he is talking about the coming Barack Obama administration: “My guess is that Barack Obama will more disappoint his supporters on the far left than he will enrage his critics on the far right.” He compares Obama to Bill Clinton, and suggests that Obama learned from Clinton’s early mistakes.

Huck Book Tour Hits Little Rock

By David Kinkade - November 26, 2008 6:55 am

Got a robocall last night featuring the dulcet tones of one Mike Huckabee, who wants me to come to the Barnes and Noble in West Little Rock this evening at 6 p.m. so that he can sign my copy of his new book, “Do the Right Thing.” Problem is, I don’t have a copy of the book, and I refuse to pay full hardback prices, so I’m in a real quandary here. I wonder if I can steal one from the library.

Another option would be to show up with this book and ask him to sign it, but Huck probably wouldn’t find that as funny as I do. In fact, he might just leap across the table and lodge that pen in my windpipe, so maybe that’s not such a hot idea.

Update: The schedule says he’ll be in Fort Smith at the Books-a-Million at noon, for you Sebastian County Huckabistas.

Update to the Update: KFSM in Fort Smith offers a brief report on Huck’s appearance there. The indefatigable Jason Tolbert promises a report on his blog this evening from the Little Rock appearance.

Thursday update: Arkansas Project commenter DumbArkie provides a little video from the signing in the comments section, and Steve Harrelson offers a report from the Under the Dome blog. Harrelson notes that his legislative colleague Dan Greenberg was there. Now, Greenberg is supposedly an Arkansas Project contributor, according to this blog’s masthead, but failed to contribute a report on last night’s festivities. Hey, you know what I’m thankful for today? Not my blog contributors, that’s for sure. Harrumph, harrumph.

Huckabee: Overexposed?

By David Kinkade - November 22, 2008 5:43 pm

Huckabee: Ubiqitous

“How can I miss you when you won’t go away?” is the question that the AP’s Andrew Demillo has for Mike Huckabee in his weekly political analysis column.

Huckabee’s everywhere these days promoting his new book, chatting up the birds on “The View,” hosting TV and radio shows, and making political appearances on behalf of other candidates. It’s a serious problem. I know, because I had to chase him out of my yard twice earlier today. Look, if you’re not gonna rake the leaves, quit drinking out of the hose.

Writes Demillo:

But his omnipresence leaves one big question: Will voters miss him if he won’t go away?

Political experts say Huckabee is walking a fine line between relishing the spotlight and hogging it.

“It’s a tricky tightrope act for any politician in his position to perform,” said Mark Rozell, professor of public policy at George Mason University in suburban Washington. “He doesn’t want people to forget about him and his surprisingly good showing in some of the primaries and caucuses. On the other hand, there is a saturation point where people think a politician is pushing himself a bit too hard.”

The other problem that Huckabee faces is the perception that he’s not just pushing himself. He’s shoving others out of the way.

There’s countervailing opinion from a GOP strategist who thinks Huckabee’s multimedia play is keeping him at the forefront of the minds of folks who are already eyeing 2012.

Huckabee Groupie: ‘He’s Fine’

By David Kinkade - November 21, 2008 12:17 pm

An Arkansas Project correspondent sends along this deeply disturbing video of a Mike Huckabee groupie breathlessly recounting her meeting with Huck at a book signing at a Costco in Northern Virginia (her testimony kicks in around 1:25). I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but it’s disturbing. Deeply. Just watch:

Also disturbing is the “Team Huckabee” gear that those dudes assisting Huck are wearing. What the hell is that garment? Is it a jacket? Is it a rugby shirt? I don’t know, but I do know that it has epaulets, which means that it’s totally cool, like my Members Only jacket.

Huck Book: 38 and Rising

By David Kinkade - November 19, 2008 7:22 am

Huckabee: No dummy

Max Brantley over at the Arkansas Times blog and I have both been covering the hoopla surrounding the release of Mike Huckabee’s new book “Do the Right Thing,” and since both of us are too lazy to actually read the book, we’re basically recycling what everyone else says about it.

It’s not our fault, though. My excuse is that my attention deficit disorder renders me semi-literate, at best, while I’m pretty sure that Max’s advance reader’s copy from the publisher was delayed.

But columnist David Sanders scored an early copy, and he has his review today, which boils down to this:

Instead of using his book to mend fences with those who didn’t support him, Huckabee’s pettiness has put him on a destructive bridge-burning crusade. That’s not a smart strategy for someone who may be planning another White House run down the road.

I’ll have to part company with Sanders on his assessment that this is “not a smart strategy.” As usual, it’s Huckabee who gets the last laugh on all us columnists and reviewers and bloggers.

As of this morning, “Do the Right Thing” is number 38 on the Amazon.com best-sellers list (and number 5 on the “Politics” books list). When I checked it yesterday, it was hovering in the mid-50s. (Update: OK, so I just checked it again at 4:30 p.m. and Huck’s book slipped to #41, so maybe that “and rising” in the headline was premature.)

So to summarize: Mike Huckabee writes a book; sprinkles in a few score-settling passages to sex it up and goose media interest and sales (reserving his toughest hits for Mitt Romney, a guy who’s going exactly nowhere in U.S. presidential politics); conducts an 18-state tour in a bus with his picture on the side; receives millions of dollars in free TV, radio and print coverage; and has all us low-rent scrubs talking about him for days on end. By 2012, all of the controversy will be long forgotten, of course.

And HE’S the dummy? No, I don’t think it works quite like that.

Huckabee on ‘The View’: ‘You’re Our Favorite Republican’

By David Kinkade - November 18, 2008 2:52 pm

Mike Huckabee was on “The View” today, which gives me an excuse to see my beloved Elisabeth Hasselbeck. And it was a lovefest, believe you me, with even that atrocious harpy Joy Behar telling Huck, “You’re our favorite Republican.” Meanwhile, Whoopi Goldberg called on Huck to defend the Arkansas ban on foster parenting by unmarried and gay couples. And then Elisabeth announced that everyone in the audience would receive a free copy of Huckabee’s new book, “Do the Right Thing.”

Man, that must have been exciting. I wish I could have been there in the studio audience today. Then I could come home and put my copy of “Do the Right Thing” on the book shelf. And while I’m at it, I could put my manhood right there on the shelf, too, because if I were in the studio audience for “The View,” I obviously wouldn’t be needing it anymore.

Courtesy of Jason Tolbert at The Tolbert Report, here’s the video:

More on Huck’s Book

By David Kinkade - November 17, 2008 5:40 pm

A couple of follow-up notes on Mike Huckabee’s new book “Do the Right Thing,” slated for release tomorrow:

Jason Tolbert at The Tolbert Report blog spent a little time on a conference call with Huck this afternoon, and he asked about the “score settling” sections of the book that have been the focus of much of today’s advance reporting on the book. The Tolbert Report, uh, reports:

Huckabee said that the book does not focus heavily on these topics and “hopefully people will read the book for themselves” and see this. These articles pulled the most controversial passages out of the book and do not represent the book as a whole. He did say that the book does “get specific about things that took place during the campaign” and talks about these things with “some degree of candor.”

Now, keep in mind that this is a classic (and clever) Huckabee move, to consciously provoke a controversy and then to discount the controversy as being beside the point, suggesting that those who focus on the controversy are just trying to stir up trouble. And then reaping the public relations benefits of the controversy nonetheless….

For example, remember the “cross in the background” business around his Christmas ad last year? Which he pretended was just a coincidence, but his consultant Ed Rollins later admitted was a conscious decision?

Meanwhile, the Wonkette blog in D.C. has a mean but funny look at the new book that’s worth a look.

Update: Occasional Arkansas Project contributor Freeman Hunt—no Huckabee fan, this one—lays out her brief against Huck.

Huckabee Unleashed: New Book Hits Stores Tuesday

By David Kinkade - November 17, 2008 6:49 am

Mike Huckabee’s next book, “Do the Right Thing,” will be in bookstores on Tuesday, Nov. 18, so if you need to stop reading this and go get in line at Barnes and Noble, I’ll understand.

The book tells in part the remarkable story of his insurgent presidential campaign. Time Magazine dishes some of the dirt, with what appear to be some withering score-settling shots at social conservative leaders who declined to support his bid and at his rivals, especially Mitt Romney:

He notes that Romney declined to make a phone call of congratulations after Huckabee beat the oddsmakers to win the Iowa caucuses, “which we took as a sign of total disrespect.” He mocks Romney for suggesting, during one debate, more investment in high-yield stocks as a solution to economic woes. “Let them eat stocks!” Huckabee jokes.

But “this is more than just a campaign memoir,” according to the promotional blurb:

It’s a vision for a smarter, fairer type of politics–”vertical politics”–that focuses on common-sense solutions for education, health care, the economy, and many other issues. It’s not about right versus left; it’s about taking America up rather than down.

Oh, goody, more of that “vertical politics” business. Perhaps if I read this book I’ll be able to figure out what the hell he’s talking about.

Huck also takes off on a book signing tour that will take him to 18 states. Noted: Of the 18 states listed, Huckabee came in first or second in the primaries of all but two, by my count. Hmmm. What a coincidence that his book tour would take him mostly to places where he has political organizations in place. (Admittedly, some of those “second place” finishes occurred after Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and other also-rans had departed the race.)

In other Huckabee news, Jason Tolbert reports that Huck will be on “The View” on Tuesday as well.

Update: Per Jonathan Martin at The Politico, the Romney camp responds thusly:

…Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said Huckabee was acting small.

“This type of pettiness is beneath Mike Huckabee,” Fehrnstrom said. “If we’re going to move the party forward, we need to offer more than personal recriminations. Unfortunately, in this book, Mike Huckabee is consumed with presumed slights, and he seems more interested in settling scores than in bringing people together.”

Sanders for Saltsman in RNC Race

By David Kinkade - November 16, 2008 9:08 pm

Arkansas News Bureau columnist David Sanders has joined the “Chip Saltsman for Chair” cheerleading team to install the former Mike Huckabee campaign manager as head of the Republican National Committee. Sanders writes:

The next RNC chair will not be responsible for charting the party’s ideological course (a major topic of discussion right now), but rather, he or she will have to prepare quickly for ‘09 elections in which voters in Virginia and New Jersey will elect constitutional officers while focusing on the all-important 2010 midterm elections.

Saltsman’s ability as an effective manager, strategist and fund-raiser uniquely qualifies him to lead what will need to be a leaner and meaner Republican Party.

The Arkansas Project looked at the Saltsman boomlet last week.

Radio Free Huckabee

By David Kinkade - November 13, 2008 2:09 pm

Huckabee: Radio Sensation

Via Max Brantley at the Arkansas Times blog, I see that former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s expansion into a one-man media empire continues unabated with the addition of a twice-daily ABC radio broadcast to his schedule. I can’t help but to think that this is a much better medium and format for Huck’s gifts than the FOX News show on Saturday and Sunday nights, which I never miss a chance to criticize, due to my obsessive and petty nature.

And now you know….the rest of the story! Ha! See what I did there? I made a Paul Harvey joke, just like Max did. We should take this act on the road.

Speaking of Huckabee’s TV show: FOX News is running a little “What Would You Ask Gov. Mike Huckabee If You Could?” survey over at their website, where readers are invited to drop a question for response from Huck after his show. I like the way they tacked “If You Could” on there, like asking Mike Huckabee a question is some kind of glamorous fantasy that we all aspire to.

I think a good question might be something along the lines of “Exactly how much do you hate Mitt Romney?” But you may have better ideas—pop on over and leave a question for your former governor.

Huckabee Gets Vertical. Or Something.

By David Kinkade - November 11, 2008 10:20 am

Mike Huckabee launched his new “Vertical Politics” website yesterday, and it’s a nice looking site. It has something to do with Americans wanting leaders who will lift us up, rather than focusing on the “horizontal” divisions of left and right. Or something like that.

He’s been using this “vertical politics” gimmick for like two years, and to tell you the truth, I still have no idea what the hell he’s talking about. Someone—Sarah, Chip, anyone—make him stop, because it doesn’t make any damn sense. Look, if you’re running for president, I’d really just like to know what you think about foreign policy without my having to run to find a protractor and graph paper to figure it out.

Update: Here’s some video of Huck explaining “vertical politics” on something called “Vertical Day,” which is apparently some kind of new holiday. It clarifies almost nothing:

P.S. That’s three Huckabee posts in the last 16 hours, so it looks like Huck’s trying to take over this blog again. So I’m placing a temporary moratorium on any more Huckabee posting, unless he does something totally noteworthy. Like, if he jumps over Snake River Canyon on a jetcycle, I’ll be all over it.

Huck Pitches Saltsman for RNC Chief

By David Kinkade - November 10, 2008 8:11 pm

Huckabee hand Chip Saltsman: Gunning for RNC chair

We touched on this a few weeks ago briefly, but Mike Huckabee’s erstwhile presidential campaign manager, Chip Saltsman, is angling to head up the Republican National Committee, and the former Arkansas governor is pulling for his man for the job. Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic blog has the details, and Team Huckabee confirms it all at his site.

Pro-Huck blogger Kevin Tracy makes the case for Saltsman, pointing to the Huckabee campaign’s unexpected success with minimal funding in the 2008 primary season as evidence: “If Chip Saltsman can raise a candidate to and beyond the level of Mitt Romney with no resources, what could Chip Saltsman accomplish with the resources of the entire Republican Party at his disposal?”

Noted: Tracy has also started a Facebook initiative to “Draft Chip Saltsman for RNC Chair.”

Tim Griffin at the Griffin Room blog has been following this race pretty closely, so if you’re interested in that kind of thing, go over there and scan through the recent posts, because he’s got lots of the skinny on who all is running for this particular brass ring.

Meanwhile, Blake Rutherford over at the Think Tank breaks the news that Howard Dean will be stepping down from his perch at the Democratic National Committee, following a rather successful tenure that led to Dem gains nationwide.

Oliver Stone Remembers Ann Pressly on ‘Huckabee’

By David Kinkade - November 10, 2008 4:24 pm

Hey, it just occurred to me that I haven’t posted anything about this week’s episode of “Huckabee” on FOX News. Since I know The Arkansas Project is your number one source for “Huckabee” news, I didn’t want to let you down. How about a little video of Huck’s interview with increasingly irrelevant film director Oliver Stone?

It includes Stone’s reminiscence about Little Rock TV anchor Ann Pressly, who died last month after being brutally beaten in her home. (Pressly had a small role as firebrand commentator Ann Coulter in Stone’s latest film “W”):

There’s a part 2 to this interview, apparently, and if you’re particularly obsessed you can go watch it over at the FOX News site, but I have no idea why you’d want to do that.

2010 Senate Poll: Huckabee vs. Lincoln?

By David Kinkade - November 7, 2008 10:32 am

Max Brantley at the Arkansas Times blog is looking forward to the 2010 and 2012 campaigns, and wants to know: Will Mike Huckabee challenge Blanche Lincoln for her U.S. Senate seat in 2010?

Max wants to hear from Arkansas Project readers, all 30 of them, which is as shocking to me as it is to you.

For my part, I’m not sure what’s more troubling: The fact that Max now thinks he’s my assignment editor, telling me what to do, or the fact that I’m actually doing it.

Anyway, you haven’t been to the polls since Tuesday, so let’s weigh in:

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Huckabee on Post-Election Blues

By David Kinkade - November 5, 2008 7:24 am

Sarah Huckabee

ABC News offers a look at post-election depression (I agree—for most people, if that’s your biggest problem you’re probably doing OK), which prominently features testimonial from one Sarah Huckabee, Arkansan and daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee.

She speaks on behalf of suddenly unemployed campaign workers everywhere about the challenge of returning to “the real world” after living and working in a heated campaign environment for months:

When her father’s campaign ended during the Republican primaries, Huckabee said she felt more than a sense of loss.

“It felt like it didn’t hit us until a couple of weeks later when we were like, ‘Uh, what do we do now?’ You don’t know how to have a normal life anymore,” said Huckabee, who is now the executive director for Huck PAC, a GOP campaigning organization in Washington, D.C.

“Getting back to the real world is probably one of the hardest things,” she said.

Bill Maher on ‘Huckabee’ Show

By David Kinkade - November 2, 2008 12:03 pm

Regular readers of this blog, of which there are, uh, several, know that if there are two things I don’t care for, it’s Mike Huckabee’s FOX News Show “Huckabee,” of which I am mildly disapproving because it’s so boring, and smirking comedian Bill Maher, of whom I am wildly disapproving because he’s so smug, unfunny and generally odious.

So as if the gods are mocking me, these two great tastes that don’t taste great together are now to be found in one package. Here’s Maher on “Huckabee” last night talking about his new flick “Religulous” and debating religion with the former governor, who shows remarkable forbearance with the obnoxious funnyman:

The New York Times reviewed “Huckabee” yesterday, along with a new show by comedian D.H. Hughley on CNN, noting that the two networks “developed these shows to cash in on the new, younger viewers drawn to cable news — and political satire — this election year.” I’ve watched “Huckabee” several times, and I’m not entirely sure what “younger viewers” this show is engineered to appeal to. Unless the usual FOX News Saturday night viewer is, like, 90, and they’re trying to rope in that coveted 80-year-old demographic.

Huckabee: Gloves Off on Obama’s Drug Use

By David Kinkade - October 21, 2008 1:38 pm

Ooooh, I do love the last few weeks of a political campaign when things start to get spicy. A Missouri blogger interviews Gov. Mike Huckabee, who throws some tough punches at Barack Obama about his associations with ’60s mad bomber Bill Ayers and Obama’s admitted past drug use:

“If a person doesn’t have better judgment than to sit down with a person (Bill Ayers) who oughta be in prison for life, instead of getting taxpayer money to teach in a university, I wonder about him…I really do…

“Guys in the media have spent more time trying to go through the background of Joe the Plumber, who’s an ordinary citizen who asked a question, than they have about Barack Obama’s past. Can you tell me anybody that’s sorted out who it was that supplied Barack Obama the drugs that he claimed in his own book to have taken?…

“If Joe the Plumber’s back taxes are relevant…then everything is relevant.”

I’d give you the video, but it’s weird and for some reason I can’t figure out how to embed it in this blog, so you’ll have to go over here to watch.

Huckabee interviewed Joe the Plumber on his FOX News show last weekend—go here for the video.