I just don't see Huckabee winning the nomination. I don't think the evangelicals, even if he really is their man, have that kind of clout. They can obstruct and make a lot of noise, but they can't engineer a nomination.

If the Republicans have any sense, and I think they do, they'll nominate either Romney or McCain.

gb, Austin, USA

Vote American This Year!
Vote MITT Romney!

dan, safford, az

Baker is correct. While Hillary Clinton is a fatally flawed candidate, Obama is also extremely over-rated among the pundit class and Democratic primary voters.

Obama's experience is virtually non-existant. His educational background?? If that was a qualification, then millions of lawyers around the country would be qualified for the presidency.

Illinois Assembly? "Community Activist"??? Don't make me laugh. He won the Illinois Senate race by default (his opponent was the crazy black perennial candidate Alan Keyes, who still managed to get a 1/4 of the vote). Once he got in the senate, he has been a non-effective senator by most objective accounts.

Obama might be an interest idea among the committed liberals or urban elite in Des Moines or Chicago, but he is not likely to fare well among "regular folks" in the Heartland. Mark my words.

Kevin, Jefferson City, Missouri

To this lifelong Democrat, it looks like three things have brought H this far. First, as far as evangelical Christians are concerned, he's the real deal. Second, when the economy is worrying a lot of Republicans outside the country club , he's the kind of Christian who remembers that help for the poor and unfortunate is an important a part of the faith. Third, he's as graceful and quick on his feet as any American politician since Jack Kennedy. That's gotten him sympathetic media from people who don't like his politics or his religion.

When Romney criticized him on giving reduced tuition to the children of illegal aliens, Huckabee responded, "I guess Romeny doesn't want them to get an education so they can keep working in his yard." That's quick, it expresses an American faith in upward mobility, and it implies that Romney is mean spirited and hypocritical.

We'll see if he can stand the spotlight, but he's been good copy so far.

Jack Cerf, Newark, New Jersey, USA

There really aren't anti-immigrant nativists involved as part of the discussion on illegal immigration, that is a myth spread by the media an pro illegal immigration groups.

Two factors contributing to Huckabee's rise in the polls are his stated position on illegal immigration, which does not agree with his historical actions on illegal immigration, and his backing by some of the religious groups associated with the religious right.

His historical actions on illegal immigration will hurt him as time goes on whether he wins the primary or not. A large majority of voters in the United States are against benefits for illegal immigrants, whille at the same time wanting to welcome legal immigrants.

There are those that say we should increase legal immigration, especially from those nations that the largest number of illegal immigrants come from, and make the illegal immigrants legal. The problem with this thinking is we have tried this before. Further many of those here illegally do not respect or nations laws, us, or our nation.

An example, Jorge Bustamante (Mexico) , the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants and a sociology professor at the University of Notre Dame, this week called Republican Party policies on immigration “immoral.” Writing in the Mexico City daily Reforma, Bustamante said the Republican candidates share a in immigration stance that “lacks even the most minimum recognition of the demand for the Mexican migrant labor.”


So here we have a Mexican national, and UN official, attempting to influence the elections in the US. The Republican candidates are simply saying that they support immigration law enforcement. Jorge Bustamante, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, apparently views that as illegal. I'd personally like to know why specifically he views the United States immigration laws illegal. The U.S. has more legal immigration then any other industrialized nation. The U.S. also has the fastest growing population of any industrialized nation, because of immigration policies. The nation with the largest number of immigrants coming to this country is Mexico. This isn't about immigrants it is about illegal immigration. Bustamante, like many, believe the U.S. has no right to enforce immigration law.

Jorge Bustamante also instigated the use of dual citizenship in Mexico to provide a way for dual citizen Mexican/U.S. citizens to influence the vote in the U.S. to benefit Mexico.

In fact many dual national citizens proudly state that Mexico is their country, it comes first. Their citizenship often comes by birth in the U.S. according to a Constitutional amendment meant to give blacks a right to vote and citizenship long ago. Many of these birth right dual citizens, are born to parents that are illegally in the U.S.

U.S. citizens have every right to defend their nation against this type of blantant interference.

win brown, Rantoul, US/ IL

There really aren't anti-immigrant nativists involved as part of the discussion on illegal immigration, that is a myth spread by the media an pro illegal immigration groups.

Two factors contributing to Huckabee's rise in the polls are his stated position on illegal immigration, which does not agree with his historical actions on illegal immigration, and his backing by some of the religious groups associated with the religious right.

His historical actions on illegal immigration will hurt him as time goes on whether he wins the primary or not. A large majority of voters in the United States are against benefits for illegal immigrants, whille at the same time wanting to welcome legal immigrants.

There are those that say we should increase legal immigration, especially from those nations that the largest number of illegal immigrants come from, and make the illegal immigrants legal. The problem with this thinking is we have tried this before. Further many of those here illegally do not respect or nations laws, us, or our nation.

An example, Jorge Bustamante (Mexico) , the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants and a sociology professor at the University of Notre Dame, this week called Republican Party policies on immigration “immoral.” Writing in the Mexico City daily Reforma, Bustamante said the Republican candidates share a in immigration stance that “lacks even the most minimum recognition of the demand for the Mexican migrant labor.”


So here we have a Mexican national, and UN official, attempting to influence the elections in the US. The Republican candidates are simply saying that they support immigration law enforcement. Jorge Bustamante, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, apparently views that as illegal. I'd personally like to know why specifically he views the United States immigration laws illegal. The U.S. has more legal immigration then any other industrialized nation. The U.S. also has the fastest growing population of any industrialized nation, because of immigration policies. The nation with the largest number of immigrants coming to this country is Mexico. This isn't about immigrants it is about illegal immigration. Bustamante, like many, believe the U.S. has no right to enforce immigration law.

Jorge Bustamante also instigated the use of dual citizenship in Mexico to provide a way for dual citizen Mexican/U.S. citizens to influence the vote in the U.S. to benefit Mexico.

In fact many dual national citizens proudly state that Mexico is their country, it comes first. Their citizenship often comes by birth in the U.S. according to a Constitutional amendment meant to give blacks a right to vote and citizenship long ago. Many of these birth right dual citizens, are born to parents that are illegally in the U.S.

U.S. citizens have every right to defend their nation against this type of blantant interference.

win brown, rantoul, US/IL

Very sound observations on the current Republican dilemma. One request, if I may: your use of the term "nativist." It implies that one is wrong or unenlightend for the simple reason of not wishing one's nation to be overrun by the poor and uneducated of the third world.
Being anti-immigration or "nativist" does not make one a racist or even isolationist. Indeed, it shows one to be aware of the changing demography of the West. Truly, how does it benefit us to allow unfettered immigration to our nations? Higher taxes, more entitlement programs and bureaucracy, more foreign languages, and more disease and crime. No thank you.

Erik, Sacramento, CA, USA

This Huckaboom will turn into a Huckabust once true Republicans realize that he's really a social liberal! He's been soft on illegals aliens giving them instate tuition and scholarships, pardoned 1033 criminals (12 murderers, one who was a sadistic rapist who killed a woman after Huckabee released him!), and raised taxes more than Bill Clinton did while Gov. or Arkansas! Let the record speak for itself. This man also knows NOTHING about foreign policy. People, wake up! We need an experienced leader who can make tough decisions and turn this country around and that man is MITT ROMNEY! Check out his website and video's. The man always answers questions directly and gets things done. He's a teambuilder and has proven himself at the Olympics which were a disaster before he turned it around, in the private sector starting venture capital company Bain in 1984, helping small companies to go national (Staples is one), and as governor of Mass. He did an excellent job and left a surplus!

April , Bonita Springs , FL

To be fair to Obama, he has a solid background in the educational side of government, having gotten degrees in it at Harvard and Columbia, for example. On top of that, he has a background as a party and community organizer, with a solid set of years of service in his state government. He's as well qualified as Abraham Lincoln, for example, was qualified, and he could be a boon to the Democratic Party by helping them win elections from the White House while bringing them together on votes in Congress.

Brett, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

My personal vision of an ideal President would be someone who could combine the commitment to social values of conservatives (real conservatives, not the big-business neocon kind who have dominated the Bush White House) with the focus on economic justice of the liberals. Of the current candidates, Mike Huckabee best combines those ideals.

What the electorate increasingly wants, though, seems to be a civil libertarian who has little use for traditional values and has no problem with leaving millions of people in poverty to save on taxes. Rudolph Giuliani will probably be their logical choice. I'd rather either Clinton or Obama won instead.

D.L. Anderson, Crossett, AR/U.S.A.