VERTICAL MAN: Columnist David Sanders suggests The Huckster can sit on his Y axis for all the good “verticality” did for Republicans in Arkansas in the Mike Huckabee era — bigger government, higher taxes and fewer Republican office holders.
THUS SPAKE THE HUCKSTER: Boston Globe notes:
Showcasing his signature sense of humor, Huckabee was introduced at his post-primary party here to R. Strauss’s dramatic “Thus Spake Zarathustra,” the theme from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Perhaps ironically, “2001” is concerned with man’s evolution, but Huckabee doesn’t believe in evolution. On the other hand, “2001” has something of an intelligent designer in the form of the alien obilisque from Jupiter that spurs apes to start using tools.
Huckabee also noted that today is the anniversary of Elvis’s birthday.
STFU: Maureen Dowd.
EXIT POLLING: On the Democratic side, a big gender gap. On the Republican side: Even they don’t like Bush.
A MICHIGAN SURPRISE? Here’s a church niche for you in Michigan, to be contested next week.
As for Mr. Huckabee, his advisers say he has not written off Michigan.
“We are seeing poll numbers in Michigan that defy reason,” Mr. Huckabee said. “And it is not because we have spent money or have a big organization there. It is because people are doing the same thing in Michigan that they are doing in the rest of the country.”
Mr. Huckabee’s advisers believe his evangelical credentials will appeal to the large swath of Dutch Reformed evangelical churchgoers in western Michigan, while his populist rhetoric about his empathy with working people will strike a chord with the state’s blue-collar voters.
WHY WERE THE POLLS WRONG?: Over-estimating Obama enthusiasm, maybe. Ballot order, maybe. Who knows?
A GOOD NIGHT FOR HUCK: Things are breaking Huckabee’s way, this analyst believes.
ON COLBERT: Tonight. Huck.