I hope Fred knows what he’s doing. He seems to be going into overdrive towards the end of this primary season while sitting out the first half. I hope its not too little too late. Out of the top tier candidates, it is true that Fred is the most conservative. The only thing he screwed up in my opinion was supporting the McCain/Feingold anti first amendment bill. He has apologized for that and now renounces it. I like Romney, but he has flip flopped on just too many issues where it seems that he is pandering to get conservative votes. I liked Huckabee at first, but the more I find out about him, the less I like. Too many tax raises, weak on immigration and nanny state beliefs in government.
Because of there only being one conservative in the top five candidates, I believe Rush Limbaugh could help out tremendously. I agree with his position to not interfere with the primaries by giving out support to someone. Let the candidates fight it out and win the nomination on their own. However, that position only holds true when the top tier candidates hold mostly conservative viewpoints. When only one candidate by and large holds conservative viewpoints out of the top tier of candidates I think it is time for Rush to rethink his position on this and come out in support of that candidate.
I think Fred's strategy is a good one. The mainstream media has consistently tagged him with the "too lazy/no fire in the belly" mantra -- something Fred didn't help with by sitting out for too long and keeping a light schedule. BUT, in the next few weeks, Iowa's going to witness a man campaigning like mad, and newspapers & TV stations raising questions like "Has he found his fire?" and "Is he too late?"
I think that'll give some voters a reason to look at his record. And, if they're conservatives, they'll like him.
Provided Gov. Huckabee is given his due scrutiny on taxes, immigration, pardons, donors, etc., I wouldn't be surprised to see Fred make an Iowa surge. And who knows what momentum can do from there...
You seem to have absorbed the MSM line about Fred. He HAS been campaigning, since the day he announced. Some newspaper claimed he was taking the week off after announcing, and that got the "Fred is lazy" ball rolling. In fact, he went to several events that week, and has been doing so ever since.
One reason Huckabee grabbed so much attention is because the 'religious' voters felt their needs weren't being met by the other top tier candidates, especially when Fred announced that he wasn't a regular churchgoer. Huckabee looked good to them because he's a preacher. I think some of them are beginning to realize that talking about Jesus a lot in your campaign doesn't substitute for being right on other issues such as terrorism, illegal immigration, the economy, etc. His being a Christian won't affect policy in this country, because he's not a dictator. His beliefs may shape his stand on the issues, as it does with the other Republican candidates, but none can dictate policy based on their beliefs.