Mike Huckabee Walks Back Natalie Portman Criticism

Huckabee screwed up.



The Other McCain has the story, "Huckabee: ‘Hey, Maybe I Shouldn’t Have Trash-Talked Luke Skywalker’s Mom’" (at Memeorandum and Politico):

We have no reason to believe that Natalie Portman became pregnant with any intention of “making a statement” or “pushing the envelope.” If Huckabee, the former Baptist minister, wishes to condemn fornication and bastardy, or to talk about the societal impact of our nation’s epidemic of fatherlessness, OK. But why drag the Star Wars star into this argument? Portman was already catching grief from the feminist ax-grinders for having declared motherhood “the most important role of my life.”

Good rule of thumb in politics: Find out what side of the issue feminists are on, and get on the other side. (If feminists ever bothered to denounce Islam’s brutal oppression of women, I might have to consider joining the Taliban. But feminists are too busy whining about “pay equity” to notice that Muslims are still stoning women to death under sharia law and forcing girls into arranged marriages.)

More at the link.

And for the "feminist ax-grinders," check Mary Elizabeth Williams, at Salon, "Is Motherhood Natalie Portman's 'Greatest Role'?"

RomneyCare Could Crash Romney's 2012 Ambitions

I like Mitt Romney personally, but he fires up few people on the right, or at least among the conservatives I've talked to. So I wonder how this is going to play out? At Politico, "Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health care law could flatline his 2012 ambitions" (via Memeorandum and The Fix):

Mitt Romney doesn't really want to talk about “RomneyCare,” the universal health care plan he signed into law as Massachusetts governor.

But the topic is already bubbling up in early primary states — offering a stark warning that his presidential run is likely to be haunted by unfavorable and potentially crippling comparisons between Romney's plan and President Barack Obama's sweeping national health care overhaul

The issue poses such a danger to Romney in the primaries that some Republicans think he’ll need to make a major speech to address the issue, while others are suggesting that third-party anti-Romney groups may unleash waves of negative ads in key states, including Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina — and Florida. Romney himself barely mentioned health care in his speech at the recent CPAC gathering, almost a tacit acknowledgment of the pitfalls it presents.

"For anyone that's following the candidates, it's the No. 1 issue that I hear from conservatives who say, 'I really like Mitt Romney, but…,' and the but is about ObamaCare," said Kevin Smith, a veteran New Hampshire Republican operative who heads the socially conservative Cornerstone Action.

Whenever I mentioned I was going to CPAC, folks asked me who was speaking. And when I said "Mitt Romney," it was almost always like, "Blah, I don't like Romney very much. I like Sarah Palin." I don't dislike Romney myself, and I wouldn't be unhappy if he won the nomination, although Palin's also my first pick. In any case, check The Hill, "Survey: Romney, Huckabee in striking distance of Obama."

Can Palin Win the 2012 GOP Nomination? — A Reassessment

In July 2009 I published "Can Palin Win the 2012 GOP Nomination?" That was 18 months ago. It's amazing how time flies, and with the New Year upon us it might be time to rephrase the question: Will 2011 be the year of Sarah Palin?

That's a pretty good bet, I'd say. For all intents and purposes, the race for the 2012 major party nominations begins today. Top-tier candidate announcements should be forthcoming shortly. Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for the 2008 Democratic nomination on January 20, 2007. Iowa will hold its presidential caucuses on January 16, 2012 (although the final shape of next year's nomination calendar is still up in the air). By this point the buzz is not so much when candidates will formally announce, but how: Facebook or Twitter? YouTube is so four years ago.



Anyway, Nate Silver has an update to his previous analysis, "Sarah Palin’s Nomination Chances: A Reassessment" (via Memeorandum). Silver focuses on voter enthusiasm, the impact of the 2010 midterms, the competition in the GOP field (and the prospects that some top-tier candidates might wait until 2016), likely media cheerleading for Palin, her advantages as a woman, ideological purity of the GOP primary electorate, likely attempts by the GOP establishment to torpedo Palin's campaign, the historical propensity for the out party to nominate ideological extremists, and Palin's advantages with new media technologies.



My take is that Silver is a bit too infatuated with the role of new technology and blogs, etc., to determine Palin's nomination chances. He spends little time on the factors that I focused on in June 2009. Perhaps most important is fundraising. So far Palin's most formidable competition will likely come from Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. Newt Gingrich is very likely to announce as well, although I doubt he'll have a serious chance to win the nomination. There's also buzz over Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the former who's considered a powerful fundraiser but whose recent gaffe on Jim Crow segregation could hurt him with the establishment media. Others like Mike Pence, Mitchell Daniels, and John Bolton seem too far off the radar, although again fundraising may be a key indicator or competitiveness. According to an analysis out yesterday, "Romney has raised the most money at $7.4 million, according to Federal Election Commission records. Palin is second at $5.4 million and Pawlenty is third at $3.3 million. The others all raised less than $2 million." But USA Today ran an analysis this week that suggests Barbour could be surprisingly competitive: "GOP fundraising avoids campaign limits through PACs ahead of 2012."



Beyond money is poll standings, especially in the early primary and caucus states. Nationally, Sarah Palin trailed both Huckabee and Romney in post 2010 midterm election polls, but not by much. And looking at some of the early states, Palin polls well on favorability in Iowa, although she came in fourth in an August 2010 Iowa straw poll (and thus could face tough sledding in the Hawkeye State). She came in third at 18 percent in 2010 election night exit polls in Iowa (Huckabee and Romney tied at 21 percent each). And that buzz is confirmed by Los Angeles Times reporter Mark Barabak, who recently spent time on the ground in Iowa. In New Hampshire, Romney leads at 39 percent, with Palin at 18 percent and Huckabee at 11 percent.



Nate Silver does add some interesting speculation on the effect of Sarah Palin's reputation as the GOP's top tea party representative. And it matters very little whether Palin's endorsed tea party candidates won last November. What matters is how powerful the tea party ends up being in the early primaries. And that in turn depends on political and economic trends this year. A poor economy boosts the prospects for the GOP in 2012 overall, and it could have an exponential impact at the grassroots. Palin could be the key beneficiary of continued Republican economic angst, and that's especially true if gasoline prices continue the upward price trend we saw at the end of 2010. Drill Baby Drill! could once again become a powerful rally cry for Palin's partisans, and it would give her a penetrating wedge against the Obama administration and a leg up on her opponents in the GOP field.



Thus, I'm pretty bullish on Palin's chance to win the 2012 GOP nomination. In that sense I'm the opposite of Charles Krauthammer, usually one of my favorite analysts. I think he dismissed her chances to quickly during his appearance on yesterday's "Inside Washington" broadcast.

Now the general election's another story and I'd side with Krauthammer on that. Flap has more: "Sarah Palin Faces Gloomy New Poll Numbers – But Does It Matter?":

I think Palin could win a multi-way GOP primary election/caucus against Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and/or Newt Gingrich. And, win easily and EARLY.



But, can she beat Obama .... ?

BONUS: Will Herman Cain upend all of this expert analysis? See, "'Run, Herman, Run!'," and "More Herman Cain Awesomeness."