Mike Huckabee: The Dark Horse Who Can Win Primaries and General Election

Headlines across the United States show that conservative Republican voters are unhappy with the current crop of candidates that they have to choose from. So much so that many influential Evangelical Christian leaders have even publicly proposed that they run a third-party candidate to challenge both Democrats and Republicans if the GOP nominates a liberal candidate such as Rudolph Giuliani.

What a lot of conservatives seem to have missed is that they had their ideal man all along. His name is Mike Huckabee.

I have long thought that Mike Huckabee, the popular governor from Arkansas, would do well in the South, perhaps win South Carolina and sweep most Southern states in the GOP primaries.

He's a Southern Baptist minister, plays bass guitar, and has a very interesting personal story about losing weight without pills or gimmicks to win out over obesity. To put it simply, he's the only true red-blooded conservative-Christian in the race.

Anti-abortion, pro-creationism, anti-gay marriage, pro-conventional nuclear families, anti-big government, pro-private sector; he's everything that both social and fiscal conservatives could want, and a whole lot more. In recent debates, he has been able to market himself well enough to the point that the national media has begun to cover his campaign, and his political opponents have begun to assail him.

That's just about good enough when running in a Republican primary where winning the hearts and minds of the ultra-activist conservative base can be the deciding factor all on their own, but Huckabee would have to then move on to win a general election against a strong Democrat in a political climate that is anything but friendly to Republicans.

That's just fine with Mike.

Above all, Huckabee is extremely likable. He's the rare politician who is always honest. He doesn't mislead, and he doesn't lie. He has seemingly never done anything "wrong"; he actually believes in all of his positions, and he doesn't go on the attack, saying that "to attack one's integrity is to expose one's own immorality."

If Huckabee does well enough in South Carolina, he may win Florida, and with it enough of the 'Big Mo' to defeat all other Republicans in the field, including the popular former NYC mayor and the cash-loaded Mitt Romney.

That is, of course, if Florida's January 29th primary isn't too early for an insurgent candidate to raise enough money to compete against foes like Giuliani and Romney; underscoring the need for a slow and paced primary calendar.

If it is Mike Huckabee, that takes away the "surefire victory" that the democrats would've had against any of the current GOP frontrunners.

Can a politician like Senator's Clinton and Obama. who seemingly pick their positions based on the direction that the wind blows, compete at the polls with a guy like Huckabee; someone who formulates political positions based on personal conviction?

Still, the governor's positions are anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion, pro-war, pro-gun, and anti-big government. Enough American's may simply disagree with his positions to prevent him from winning a general election.

Despite his inevitable rise, odds are the due to a tight primary calendar combined with Romney's money and the probability that the former Massachusetts governor will emerge in first place in both Iowa and New Hampshire, Mitt Romney will win the nomination and then loose to whichever Democrat gets nominated.