Huckabee: I'll take Michigan seriously
date: Tuesday, January 8, 2008
SOURCE: Detroit News
By:
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Mike Huckabee said Tuesday he plans to make a significant effort in Michigan's Republican
presidential primary, with television ads hitting the air Wednesday and a
high-profile speech Friday to the Detroit Economic Club.<br><br>
"We're taking it very seriously," Huckabee said of the Jan. 15
primary here. "Polling numbers have given us a lot of encouragement. … I
think that's probably a stunning surprise, knowing that we've not spent an
enormous amount of money there, I've not made repeated trips there, and we
don't have paid staff there."<br><br>
The former Arkansas
governor made the comments during a conference call with Detroit News editorial
writers. Huckabee was in New
Hampshire, the site of today's first-in-the-nation
primary.<br><br>
Huckabee would be the third candidate to air TV ads in Michigan, joining Mitt Romney and John
McCain. He has made only two appearances in the state, at a televised debate in
Dearborn in October and a small fundraiser in Shiawassee County in November. He skipped the state
Republicans' leadership conference of party activists on Mackinac
Island in September, saying at the time that he couldn't afford to
charter an airplane to fly there. Several Republican candidates delivered
speeches and courted supporters at the meeting.
Despite making relatively little effort in the state so far, Huckabee got
significant support in the most recent public polling in Michigan. A Detroit News-WXYZ Action News
Poll in mid-December showed Huckabee with support from 19 percent of likely
primary voters, behind Romney at 21 percent.<br><br>
Huckabee said his campaign is moving most of his campaign staff from Iowa, where he won last week's GOP caucuses, to Michigan. Staffers also
will come to Michigan from New
Hampshire and the campaign's headquarters in Little Rock, Ark.
A campaign spokeswoman said scheduling of campaign events in Michigan was still being
finalized. Huckabee said he would campaign here on Friday and Saturday, and
hoped to return Monday and Tuesday.<br><br>
The speech at the economic club's Friday luncheon could be a significant
event in the campaign. Huckabee's success in Iowa was built largely on his appeal as a
Baptist minister to the party's social conservatives. But the anti-tax wing of
the party has reacted with dismay to his campaign's rise; the influential Club
for Growth, an anti-tax group, has called Huckabee a liberal for his taxes and
spending policies while governor. He said he would try to address those
concerns in his speech to Metro Detroit's business elite.<br><br>
"I'll try to clear up some, I think, misconceptions about my own
economic perspectives. … I believe in lower taxes, I believe in less
government," Huckabee said. But he said he'll also argue that the nation's
economic policies can't ignore what he called "the struggling class"
-- working poor families concerned about making ends meet.