Mike Huckabee Capturing A Lock On Social Conservatives And Those Seeking "Authenticity" In A Candidate

Mike Huckabee's low key and low budget quest for the presidency continues to gain new ground in the Republican presidential sweepstakes. New polls now have him now strengthening into a slender lead in Iowa over the massive money machine of corporate candidate, Mitt Romney.

Several factors are at work that strengthening Mike Huckabee into the ultimate GOP dark horse. One is the continued support and poll number collapse of fellow social conservative Fred Thompson, which is now forcing these voters to rally around a single conservative candidate. Another factor is the big strength of social conservative voters among the GOP voters of Iowa, which could help to give Huckabee a huge bounce into the later New Hampshire contest in which Romney has also spent a great a deal of money, although New Hampshire GOP voters tend to me more centrist and moderate than the more conservative Iowa voters.

But perhaps the largest advantage of Mike Huckabee is a real sense of "authenticity" that surrounds him. He gives you the sense that he honestly represents himself to voters, unlike both Romney and Giuliani who both continue to represent phony new versions of themselves to the voters which sharply contrast with their past records or past personal conduct.

Even Democrat Hillary Clinton could be hurt by many voters seeking authenticity in a candidate, and are turned off from a candidate who carefully tailors their persona and issues to voters in a patently phony manner just to get elected. One reporter who left from Cuba recently stated that the Hillary Clinton campaign reminds him of the party aparatus in his former Communist country, where careful statements from the bureaucracy are the only ones released to the public, and the leadership is shielded from any reporters or critics.

Mike Huckabee's personal politics may have little appeal to progressive voters. But he is inspiring something not seen in major league politics for some time, a real return to authenticity. Both parties could do well to be inspired by this excellent trait that seems like a long lost notion in American politics.