Huckabee Surging in Iowa

A recent poll conducted by CBS and the New York Times shows Mike Huckabee gaining momentum in Iowa, with 21% of the vote, second only to Mitt Romney with 27%. The only thing is that Huckabee has spent only $500,000 in the state holding the first caucus in the country, while Romney has spent millions upon millions on TV commercials and other advertising. Why is Iowa so important? Winning the caucus could be worth about $30 million in free advertising and extra name recognition from news broadcasters trying to determine if the momentum will hold.

He responded to the poll results with a statement on his website. It read, "There's definitely momentum as people are paying attention to my message. We are seeing first hand why it's crucial for the Iowa caucuses to be first -- Iowa Republicans are looking beyond my campaign budget and are relating to my values and where I stand on important issues."

Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, has had to take a slightly different approach from Romney, lacking the needed funds to produce these advertisement. While Romney had millions of dollars of his own money to contribute to his campaign, Huckabee has had to rely on word of mouth, traveling from small town to small town, setting up shop in a local pizza shop and speaking to whoever will listen, and it seems to be working.


"Huckabee is a very good candidate in the sense he makes a very good appearance," CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer said. "I think that Huckabee actually has a chance to win out there… If he does, that puts a whole new spin on the race. I'm still not sure he would be the favorite to get the nomination, but he's certainly going to be a factor as we move on down the road."

Hampered by a lack of fundraising early on in his campaign, people are starting to put their money where their mouth is now that he is becoming a viable candidate. In the month of October, the campaign set a goal of $200,000 in online donations, and supporters responded by raising over $1,000,000, and they are on pace to exceed that amount this month.

Looking ahead to the general election, Huckabee seems to be the Republican Party's best bet to beat Sen. Hillary Clinton. A recent poll by Rasmussen Reports shows Huckabee trailing Clinton by only three percent (43-46), the smallest margin of all Republican candidates. And he is not unfamiliar with running against the Clinton machine. While running for Lt. Governor and later Governor of Arkansas, Bill and Hillary Clinton endorsed and campaigned for each of the candidates facing Huckabee over a span of 12 years, and he beat them all four times.