This week, Huckabee keeps popping up in conversations. As a conservative in liberal land, people keep asking my opinion on the former governor. (I’m possibly the only Republican that a lot of my co-workers know.)

I’d find it amusing, but for some reason Huckabee really bothers me. This time last year, my old roommate and I decided he was the candidate to watch. I can’t help but wonder if the Thompson campaign supernova actually helped Huck.

Several people, far better than me at political commentary, have analyzed the Huckster this week:

Defusing the Huckabomb. Patrick Ruffini
Huck-a-boom. Expat Teacher
Their Lack of Faith is Disturbing. EM Zanotti

Why don’t I like Huckabee? He is a more radical version of the campaigning Bush. Given what President Bush turned out to be, how can we not fear candidates in the same mold? Ok, that’s a stupid question given America’s love affair with populist candidates like Bill Clinton and Obama.

I may be pro-life, but states should decide things like marriage and abortion. I’m also an Evangelical Christian, but we have freedom of religion in this country. Huckabee’s recent comments on Mormonism remind me too much of Bob Jones’ legalism. I dislike Romney, but it’s because of his expansion of health care in Massachusetts, not his religion.

Given the conversations that I’ve had with a few conservatives, I know that I’m not the only one out there puzzled over who to support. I don’t think I’ve ever dreaded a primary so much. My roommate’s philosophy is to vote for the hottest candidate regardless of the party. That doesn’t work so well within GOP circles. When all else fails, I usually vote for the guy with the coolest name. That brings me back to Huckabee.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Election '08, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.