First-Person: Mike Huckabee and Other GOP Candidates Swoop into Florida

This past week the major GOP candidates have swept into my state. I live in Orlando, right in the middle of the I-4 corridor which is a major political battle ground for the state of Florida as well as the nation. Liberal to the south and hick towards the north with Mickey Mouse sitting right in the middle.

This is such an exciting and important election. Four years ago it was painful watching Kerry and Bush go at it. I was bored silly all the way up through November. This year, I found myself wanting to cook up some popcorn as I watched Stephanopoulos talk on the night of the Iowa caucus.

I'm a father of four and my wife homeschools the older two. It was a week ago when I heard that Governor Huckabee was speaking that afternoon at the airport a couple of miles from my home. I jumped at this educational opportunity for my kids. My oldest daughter is nine and was already a big Huckabee fan. Leaving work early, I suddenly found myself with my family outside an airplane hanger on a cool breezy Florida afternoon.

Arriving there, we found three groups of people. One group was the polite perfectly dressed campaign people directing everyone where to go while handing out Huckabee stickers and signs. Next, there was the somewhat arrogant perfectly dressed media people standing around chit chatting among themselves about their campaign trail experiences. I heard one guy telling the others about how the secret service gave him hassle when he threw his gum in the trash during a Bush stop over four years ago. I understood his grieve because he really didn't strike me as the plastic explosives type. The last group, of course, was the standard Joe supporter of Huckabee. A good many of them were homeschool families. One mom had her children holding a large rolled out paper sign declaring "Homeschoolers for Huckabee."

So, there we all were waiting in a staging area between the airplane hanger and an open field. All the children were organized in a big semicircle behind the podium as we waited and waited for Governor Huckabee to arrive. He was coming from a Martin Luther King church service in Atlanta that went well over an hour longer than expected.

My two year old son had not had his nap and was fussy. Since I was there, I did daddy duty to relieve by wife who has to deal with him everyday. As we waited, it gave me time to reflect on the good governor.

Huckabee simply nails it on health care. He was really obese a few years ago. When his doctor told him to enjoy his last decade, he got the serious and dropped over 100 pounds. He's got a clear understanding of tackling the issue with prevention being the focus. We're killing ourselves and throwing away buckets of money for better technology and medicines while doing little to prevent what got us in trouble in the first place.

Huckabee's fair tax initiative is too idealistic. I agree with him but I don't see how he could really pull it off. I feel he should be promoting it as a dream instead of stumping for it as a main issue.

Huckabee does not have foreign policy experience. Still, there's nothing I've heard from him that concerns me about his views on world issues. He's done a great job at the state level and I think he would do fine on the world stage.

Huckabee has the best sense of humor, is the most eloquent of the bunch, and by far is the man with the most integrity. He's a man of deep religious conviction. It's funny how in past generations that would be considered an good attribute for a candidate but today it is often seen as a liability.

So here I was strolling my fussy two year old across a bumpy field as the vibration was sending him to sleepy land. The time had finally arrived. Mike Huckabee's plane had landed and he was approaching the staging area. I stopped the stroller and my boy started crying again. Fortunately, when I picked him up, he fell right back to sleep in my arms. At least I was mobile and able to get close to the action. My only challenge now was preventing him from waking up screaming in front of a local and perhaps national TV audience.

The best part of the whole event was seeing Governor Huckabee shake hands with my children. That's a precious memory that will be etched forever in my daughter's mind. Just as she is coming of age and starting to understand the political world around her, she got to meet a United States presidential candidate. That alone made the whole afternoon worth it.

Mike did a great job fielding questions from the press. I realized just how much a candidate needs to be prepared all the time. The trick is not to appear surprised or lost for words. Mr. Huckabee confidently started talking as soon as a question was delivered. As he answered each question directly, he would somehow weave a different piece of his mandate into his response. He was like a tennis player returning a shot and adding a top spin to it.

The press conference was soon over and Governor Huckabee was whisked away to his next event in one of those new stylish SUVs. I imagine running for president is like being on The Amazing Race. You have to bounce all over the country at breakneck speeds doing difficult challenges along the way. The last candidate arriving at certain designated primary election pit stops is eliminated.

As the sun was hanging low, all the perfectly dressed media people finished up their reports as we headed home. Now the fun began watching the TV and Internet for my family being on those ever short news clips. The one thing that became apparent was how the media neglected the homeschool support there for Huckabee. There were a lot of children sitting on the ground behind the governor. All of the video shots of Huckabee speaking were above waist level and hardly showed any children in the background. The homeschool angle was never mentioned.

I see that as a golden opportunity missed. We were all waiting around for over an hour. If one of those perfectly dressed media people had been savvy, they could have gone through and interviewed some homeschool kids to get their take on Huckabee and the presidential campaign in general. Instead, I saw just one reporter get a sound bite from an adult supporter. I guess he got that check off on his assignment list. Thanks mass media for your in-depth coverage. Florida is a big homeschooling state. They should have known better.