First of all, Hi! As my first post I'm new to this but I hope my ideas will drum up some discussion. Now here we go: Piggybacking on the incredible Republican debate last night, I think Mike Huckabee deserves more attention. Sure, Tim Russert thinks he's a real candidate now and talk shows are talking him up, but he's still not on the level of Romney, Giuliani, and McCain despite a strong second-place running in Iowa and a climbing national average. I thought his performance last night showed that he really meshes wiht conservatives on almost all important election issues, and he delivered these stances matter-of-factly and even with a touch of humor (Jesus was too smart to run for public office was great!). 
    The main problem with the Huckabee campaign, as nearly everyone agrees, is that he just doesn't have the money. The fact that he's made it this far is impressive enough, but whether or not he can keep it up is a very real issue. If he does win the nomination, he gets much more money from many parties that have as of yet not put any money on the campaign, so maybe this isn't as big of an issue as it's being made. Also, Tom Tancredo has spent a grotesque amount of money campaigning in Iowa and still has an abysmal 2 or 3 percent of the Democratic vote. So is money really all that important? A debate for another time....(I personally don't think it is, but I'll get into it deeper in another post hopefully). 
    Coming off that issue, I think Huckabee's other major probelm is that he probably won't be able to swing some of those on-the-fence Dems like Rudi could. His pastoral background and other staunch issues (which, in my opinion, makes him the most "Repblican" candidate) , may prevent him from winning key swing states. Also the nationwide mentallity that Dems=change could play a major in this election just like it did for Congressional races in 2006. So as far as my first question, ya, I think Huckabee can do it, but he has some major hurdles to tackle. He certainly has my support, but only time (and Iowa?) will tell. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think...