Mike Huckabee jams with Def Leppard guitarist (The Ticket)

Huck jams with Def Leppard
The OC Register says Huck and Def Leppard's Phil Collen had an impromptu jam session that drew cheers at the 2011 NAMM Show -- a music products convention. So, was Huckabee worried that hanging out with heavy metal greats might affect his image as a conservative politician? "I hope so," he said. You can see a pic here. Considering Huck's diet, I'd guess Collen didn't pour any sugar for him. ...

T-Paw's Dilemma.
During the 2008 campaign, Mike Huckabee used to describe himself this way: "I'm a conservative, but I'm not angry about it." That wouldn't be an inaccurate description of Tim Pawlenty , the former Minnesota Governor now ramping up his Presidential Campaign. The problem is that the Conservative Base is angry, and winning the Republican nomination may require channeling and playing to that anger. The potential Candidates who are angrier -- Sarah Palin , Newt Gingrich -- have enormous liabilities t...

Mike Huckabee Defends Sarah Palin
Mike Huckabee defends Sarah Palin in the Controversy surrounding the aftermath of the Arizona Shootings: _____________________________________________________________________________________________ -Texas Conservative blogs at I Like Mike Huckabee 2012 ...

Poll: Obama leads potential GOP rivals in Iowa
President Barack Obama would once again win the Hawkeye State if the election were held today, but this time with a much slimmer margin, according to the latest poll by Public Policy Polling. Obama won the state by 9 percentage points in 2008, but against former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee he leads by only 4 percentage points, 47 percent to 43 percent. Against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney he has a 6 percentage point advantage, 47 percent to 41 percent. Obama leads former U.S. House Spea...

PPP Poll: Obama Leads All 2012 GOP Contenders in Iowa
President Obama is well positioned to win Iowa in 2012 as he did in the last election, though Mike Huckabee would make the race interesting should he emerge as the GOP nominee, according to a PPP poll released today. Obama led each of the GOP contenders in the poll, with just Huckabee and Mitt Romney coming within single digits of the President. Obama led Huckabee 47% to 43%, and topped Romney 47% to 41%. Newt Gingrich trailed Obama by 13 points, 51% to 38%, while Palin, as has become the norm...

Second choice in Iowa
Alex Burns has a new Iowa poll with good news for Huckabee in a state whose Caucus system means that second choices really matter: If one or more leading GOP Candidates don’t run for president, Mike Huckabee is currently in the best position to pick up support in the form of second-choice votes. Twenty-six percent of Romney voters, 29 percent of Palin voters and 34 percent of Gingrich v...

Huck Going To Sarah's Turf
WASHINGTON -- Move over Sarah Palin, the mythic land of Alaska is getting some attention from another would-be Republican contender. If former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee hopes to win the GOP nomination in 2012, he's going to have to woo some of Palin's fans, so he's made a logical move. He's starring in a weeklong "Christian-based" cruise along the Alaskan coast this summer. Alaska cruises are already famous in the recent history of Conservatism. It was on two successive cruises in the su...

Huckabee Praises Obama For 'Easily His Best Speech,' Slams 'Sleazy Opportunists'
WASHINGTON -- The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and the political response to it has become a litmus test of sorts for the emerging field of 2012 Republican Presidential Candidates. Tonally, it has been a balancing act: expressing sympathy for the Victims, empathy for the grieving, and indignation for the idea that conservative Rhetoric played a contributing role. And it has managed to trip up at least one figure, Sarah Palin, whose seven-minute statement was reduced to a two-w...

Sarah Palin to Speak at Pro-Hunting Convention
Former Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at a pro-hunting convention in January. (Credit: John Moore/Getty Images) Sarah Palin plans to deliver the keynote address to the Safari Club International 2011 Convention, running January 26-29 in Reno, Nevada. According to its website, "Safari Club International is the Leader in Protecting the Freedom to Hunt and Promoting Wildlife Conservation Worldwide." The convention is home to the "Ult...

Palin's biggest problem
Sarah Palin's biggest obstacle to the White House may not be her remarkable level of unpopularity with Democrats and Independents. Her more immediate problem is that she simply doesn't have much support in the vital early Republican states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and Florida. Palin does well in national polls on the GOP nomination contest, including a first place finish on our most recent one. But if those sorts of polls determined the nominee Hillary Clinton would most likely be in the...

Huckabees Second Bapticostal Bid for the GOP Nomination
Polling is showing Mike Huckabee ahead of the pack of his rivals for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination in Evangelical-heavy Iowa. In 2008, Huckabee, after a surprise second place showing in the Straw Poll held by the Iowa GOP the summer before the caucuses, pulled out a win in Iowa, only to be unable to replicate it elsewhere. Then, despite strong evangelical support, he suffered from a splintered GOP field and charges by Arkansas Republicans that he was too soft -- a RINO (Republican In Name...

WikiLeaks backs censorship after Tucson shootings
In a Press Release, Wikileaks has blamed Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, and other Conservatives for the Tucson shootings, and called for them to be prosecuted for “incitement.” It is not clear why Wikileaks thinks people like Huckabee had anything to do with the shootings. Even Sarah Palin has said nothing that would constitute incitement, much less illegal incitement under the U.S. Supreme Court’s governing First Amendment rulings in Hess v. Indiana and Brandenb...

'Coming Up Next on TLC... Alvin Greene's South Carolina.'
The lighter conclusion of the final Morning Jolt of the week: Am I correct in theorizing that the key conduit for a shocking amount of these stupid, fact-free arguments is Politico? I’m not saying that their correspondents are stupid; they work like maniacs and get scoops like clockwork. But sometimes you get the feeling they’ll write about anything. Ed Schultz accuses Palin of using “rhetorical dog whistles” in the term “Blood Libel,” and Abracadabra! A 650...

Marist Poll - POTUS Out in Front
Posted by JM Ashby A new McClatchy/Marist Poll released today, which pre-dates both Palin's and the President's speeches last night, shows President Obama with massive leads over all of the current supposed GOP frontrunners including Huckabee, Romney, and Palin. Today Obama would beat Republican Mitt Romney by 51 to 38 percent, the poll showed. In a December McClatchy-Marist poll, he trailed the former Massachusetts Governor by 46-44 percent. Obama would defeat Republican Mike Huckabee by a s...

Poll: Obama rebounding with voters, would beat GOP rivals
WASHINGTON — President Obama has bounced back from his low point after November's Elections and enjoys stronger support heading into the 2012 election cycle, particularly against Sarah Palin, according to a McClatchy Newspapers-Marist poll released Thursday. The poll also found a jump in the number of people who believe the country is heading in the right direction, and the president likely benefited from the productive postelection session of Congress. Obama's rating improved on several...

Poll says Obama rebounding with voters, would beat GOP rivals
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has bounced back from his low point after November's Elections and enjoys stronger support heading into the 2012 election cycle, particularly against Sarah Palin, according to a McClatchy Newspapers-Marist poll released Thursday. Obama's fortunes appear to be rising along with the country's. The poll found a jump in the number of people who think the country's heading in the right direction. Also, the president probably benefited from the productive post...

Obama political fortunes are rising
No doubt about it: President Obama is on a political roll. Obama's Approval Ratings have cracked 50% in a number of polls, and a new McClatchy-Marist survey shows him pounding potential 2012 Republican challengers Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee. There are many reasons, pollsters say: Obama's political successes in December, particularly the Tax Cut deal with Republicans; the generally improving economy; and his handling of the Mass Shooting in Arizona last weekend. "Clearly, the la...

Traffic Laws Do Not Apply to Everyone Equally
It's a special license plate, available to nearly a million and a half state workers and their families. This special plate allows them to blow through bridge and express lane tolls, without ever seeing a citation or paying the toll. They are also immune to stop-light camera tickets. It's all part of a little-known program, which is now getting a lot of attention. Route 66 Today LOOK Route 66 Today January 2011 Culture Calendar LOOK January 2011 Culture Calendar New Calif. Laws in 2011 LOOK ...

Another 2012 GOP hopeful in Florida
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's new book Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty continues to try to build a profile in Florida in advance of a potential run for the 2012 GOP nomination for president. The 2012 GOP presidential contender has scheduled a Book Signing ceremony in Tampa this week, just months after making public speeches in Orlando and Tampa during the 2010 Midterm Elections. Pawlenty’s pushing his book, Courage to Stand: An American Story at Barnes & Noble on 11802 N...

Huckabee's timetable
Today, Mike Huckabee told Fox News Channel that FNC itself is why he'll probably wait to make a decision on a presidential run. "There's a lot to consider and a lot to think about. And if I do make a decision, it'll be much later than earlier, because, gee, I'd hate to lose this opportunity to visit with you every Friday." ...

Huckabee Not Close to Decision
Mike Huckabee told Fox News, where is he a paid commentator, that he wasn't close to making a decision on making a White House bid in 2012. Said Huckabee: "There's a lot to consider and a lot to think about, and if I do make a decision, it'll be much later than earlier, because, gee, I'd hate to lose this opportunity to visit with you every Friday." ...

Huckabee slams Left for reaction to shootings
Molly Ball reports on Mike Huckabee's tongue-lashing of the media on his Radio Show this afternoon. Huckabee said the media didn’t apply the same scrutiny to other attacks with possible political motivations. “It took some in the media months to finally acknowledge, if ever, that the Ft. Hood shootings were the result of an Army officer who was an Islamic Jihadist and committed an act of terror,” he said. “But it only took them minutes to falsely decide that the whack j...

Polls: Palin struggles in early primary states
Pollster Tom Jensen notes that Sarah Palin is near the top of the leaderboard nationally, but so was Hillary Clinton in '08. As we all know, it's the early states that matter. In Iowa two different polls this week found that Palin is a distant third in Iowa. We found her 15 points behind Mike Huckabee with 15% support and Neighborhood Research found her 13 points behind Huckabee with only 11% support. In New Hampshire our most recent poll found her in a tie for third place at 10% with Newt Gin...

Iowa 2012: Obama leads
A new Public Policy Polling survey of Iowa shows Barack Obama beating all Republican rivals in a 2012 contest. Matchups: a. Barack Obama 47% Mike Huckabee 43% b. Barack Obama 47% Mitt Romney 41% c. Barack Obama 51% Newt Gingrich 38% d. Barack Obama 53% Sarah Palin 37% Favorability Ratings: a. Mike Huckabee 42%/39% for +3%. b. Mitt Romney 37%/42% for -5%. c. Newt Gingrich 30%/49% fo...

The Fix: The haves and the have-nots of the 2012 GOP presidential field
The 2012 Republican presidential race is a contest between the "haves" and the "have nots". The "haves" boast high name identification scores and Favorability Ratings among Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents. The "have nots", well, don't. The "haves" group includes four people: former Govs. Mitt Romney (Mass.), Sarah Palin (Alaska) and Mike Huckabee (Ark.) as well as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The "have not" ar...