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Posted: January 15, 2008 12:21 PM
Huckabee Touts Economic Populism in Michigan Race
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Ahead of Michigan’s Republican presidential primary, candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee seasoned his stump speech with a decidedly Rust Belt flavor, aiming his message of economic populism at working-class voters in a state that has seen years of factory-closings and record-high unemployment — 7.4 percent in November, compared to 4.7 percent nationwide.

He told an audience in Augusta, west of Battle Creek, that he knew the economy was not working for Michiganders. And he took a veiled shot at his better-heeled rivals, especially former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, when he said that as president he would speak for “those who didn’t get the finest education at [the] finest boarding schools on the East Coast. For those of us who didn’t grow up with a silver spoon … who never really entered the country club … who didn’t have silk stockings but cotton socks … for people waiting the tables and handling the bags and driving in the front seat of cabs.”

He went on to tell the crowd that he knew “that there are some candidates out there saying Michigan has lost jobs that you will never see again,” referring to a comment made last week by another rival, Arizona Sen. John McCain. “I say let’s change policies so that we do see them again.”

He also said his humble background sets him apart from the other candidates. “I’ve been living in the real world, while some are living in that insular bubble called Washington, D.C. … You’ll have to decide, do they represent the values and views that you think about, [that] you worry about, when you sit at your dinner table tonight? Do they understand your family? Have they ever, for a moment, really, truly known what happens when you lose your paycheck?” He urged primary voters to vote for him, saying, “if we can’t protect the American workers and the American people, if we’re more interested in outsourcing our jobs and our freedom, [if] we aren’t making sure Americans have some stability, then we need some different people running the government.”

Of the front-runners, Huckabee has the fewest ties to the state. Romney was born and raised in Michigan, where his late father, George Romney, was chairman of American Motors Company and a three-term Republican governor. And McCain won the 2000 Republican primary here, defeating then-Texas governor George W. Bush.

But analyst Scott Reed, an un-aligned Republican strategist, warned against counting Huckabee out too soon. “It’s a strong three-man race … a must-win for Romney,” who lost both Iowa and New Hampshire, “a need-to-win for McCain,” who won New Hampshire, but lost Iowa to Huckabee, “and Huckabee just has to do well enough to go on to South Carolina,” where, as a Southern former governor and Baptist minister, he is expected to have strong support, especially among the state’s large religious conservative community.

South Carolina’s GOP primary is slated for Saturday.