Byron York‘s latest Washington Examiner article analyzes the impact of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s decision to stay out of the 2012 presidential race.
Huckabee’s departure hasn’t diminished GOP voters’ desire for a Huckabee-like candidate. To political professionals, that means a candidate who can appeal to social conservatives, mostly in the South. But people who have worked with Huckabee know that it’s something more than that, and it’s not terribly complicated: A lot of voters are looking for a candidate they can like as much as they liked the former governor of Arkansas.
“Yes, you had social conservatives who gravitated toward his strong pro-life and marriage views,” says Chip Saltsman, who ran Huckabee’s 2008 presidential campaign and was prepared to join up again had Huckabee decided to run. “But there were a lot of voters who were drawn by his pure charismatic ability to attract people. We had a lot of people on the team who were just drawn to him. They thought he was such a unique guy that once they met him they couldn’t help supporting him.”
