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The Anti-Huckabee Blog Swarm

This is a truism of American politics: When a dark horse starts looking like a white knight, commentators who think in red and blue figuratively spill barrels of black ink. In the information age, that is as true of bloggers as it is of journalists, and you can see it in the online treatment of Mike Huckabee in recent weeks.

Huckabee has been an also-ran in the Republican presidential race for most of the year, and as such, he has been the subject of relatively friendly media coverage. His Chuck Norris ad generated the kind of free press and viral attention online that every longshot loves, and Huckabee received raves for his performance in the GOP debate co-hosted by CNN and YouTube late last month.

But over the past several days, he has been the subject of a series of critical stories -- about his ignorance of the latest national intelligence estimate on nuclear weapons in Iran, about his role in the release from prison of a rapist who went on to kill a woman, and about his long-ago opinion that AIDS patients should be quarantined and that homosexuality is "sinful," among other things. The journalists who arguably helped propel Huckabee to a first-place lead in Iowa are quickly becoming his worst enemies.

The same evolution can be seen in the blogosphere. The recent entries on two top liberal blogs illustrate the point nicely.

Take a look at Talking Points Memo first. Josh Marshall acknowledged in late November that Huckabee is "no longer a surging second-tier player" and is "for real." A day later, he heaped praise on Huckabee for his YouTube debate performance.

Not long after Marshall realized that the former Arkansas governor is a legitimate presidential contender, he joined the Huckabee press pile-on, making note of the candidate's every misstep -- especially his involvement in the release of rapist Wayne DuMond. Marshall called it "Huckabee's Willie Horton Problem" and emphasized that it "doesn't put Huckabee in a very good light." He also suggested that Huckabee released DuMond because he bought into the right-wing "craziness" aimed at former President Bill Clinton.

A similar progression occurred at Daily Kos. Markos Moulitsas Zuniga noted the "amazing" rise Huckabee achieved despite a poorly funded campaign, and then he quickly started attacking the man perceived as a new GOP threat. He crowed that the DuMond story is finally getting the attention it deserves, ridiculed Huckabee for crediting God with his newfound political popularity, and then blasted Huckabee for pandering.

"Huckabee is the new [John] McCain -- someone who was gaining traction with voters because he wasn't pandering to the worst segments of his party. He was being himself," Kos wrote. "As with McCain, that brief moment in time has passed. He's no longer different than the rest of his colleagues on that stage."

The flood of attention that Huckabee has received at liberal blogs is evidence that negative blogging has joined negative advertising as a mainstay of American politics. It is sure to be a staple of online grassroots strategy in 2008, and the establishment likely will try to capitalize on the propensity of bloggers to swarm against candidates who begin to emerge as frontrunners.

The anti-Huckabee blog swarm isn't limited to the left, though. Jim Geraghty at The Campaign Spot, a blog at National Review Online, has been spreading the negative news about Huckabee and taking subtle jabs of his own. And The Club For Growth uses its blog, in addition to television ads, to deride Huckabee as "Tax Hike Mike."

The message that campaigns should take away from it all is that effective blog gurus like Huckabee research director Joe Carter are worth the investment.

Posted by Danny | 12:52 PM

Comments

He missed one: The REAL Mike Huckabee

dan1231 | 12.10.07 02:52 PM

You're right, people turn awful quick when someone changes from an interesting figure to a threat to their own preferences. It's sad that everything has to be so negative about candidates, if the press and blogs would talk as much about current issues as they would these sensational blurbs from 10+ years ago, we might actually have information available that is useful to the voting public... *sigh*

Darren | 12.10.07 02:56 PM

Huh? Are you saying that bloggers should ignore the Dumond, NIE, and homosexuality issues? Was Mickey Kaus wrong to point out that Huckabee's former parish won't release the text of any of his sermons?

If this were gossip then that'd be one thing. But the homosexuality and NIE comments were on the record. Huckabee is also on record saying he didn't pressure the Dumond parole board, and didn't know anything about Dumond's character at the time. Which of course contradicts reports from his former staffers.

Kudos to the bloggers who've been highlighting this stuff.

kwo | 12.10.07 06:38 PM

My first mention of Huck was back in 2004, and it was, like all the succeeding mentions, negative. The latest is at my name's link. And, I'm not even in AR. This site might consider looking up some of the AR blogs and sites for much more.

The latest | 12.10.07 07:32 PM

You don't see any anti-Huckabee sentiment in the MSM press. It seems all the NYT and NPR report on are Hillary, Obama and Huckabee. All the fawning has to be because they think he is a beatable candidate and want to do anything to help him win the nomination.

Roger | 12.10.07 08:09 PM

You are funny. First of all, Huckabee is a Baptist. He has no "parish". That's Catholicism. Second, the Arkansas Democratic Party has a copy of all his sermons. They made a copy of the complete library when he ran for Lt. Governor in 1992.

I do agree that his stance on issues should be debated, but stay away from the conspiracy theory stuff. It actually diminishes the value of any good points that you might have.

whatever | 12.10.07 09:19 PM

Seems only natural that blogs on the right (conservative) would 'pile-on' a pro-tax, pro-illegal, pro-criminal candidate :)

Verlin Martin | 12.10.07 09:45 PM

My first, really serious look at Mitt and Huck took place yesterday night when I watched Glenn Beck do a pretty good job of questioning both of them.

Despite Mitt's rep for being smooth, actually Huck came off smoother, more comfortable (not that Mitt was bad...just the difference between A and a B as grades).

And it could well be that Mitt might be smoother on another occasion.

After listening to them both, I was struck by how much I liked them both. Both have problems with their views that I either don't like, or am not sure of, but right now, I wouldn't be too upset with Pres. Mitt and VP Huck or Pres. Huck and VP Mitt. And Fred! still has my attention too.

Tennwriter | 12.10.07 10:44 PM

This is the first reputable piece I've read about the "anti-Huckabee blog swarm." It was very good. And, sadly, it's true. I think I've Googled Huckabee's name every day since August. I've been watching this guy since before it was cool. I have a good ear for language, and I knew it was only a matter of time before the way he was putting and saying things would catch attention.

With that said, I admit that I saw my own ardent support tail off slightly somewhere around two or three weeks ago, as the oppo started coming out more steadily.

And as I do my news search on his name every day, I sift through dozens of articles looking for something favorable. It's hard to reconcile how my candidate can be so popular in the polls and yet his name is mud on the Internet.

Go figure.

open slather | 12.11.07 12:41 AM

Just shows how partisan some people are. Huckabee is a good guy. Isn't it possible that some attack him because he's a traditional Christian? I mean, do bloggers really think Iowa Republican conservatives are offended if a candidate says that homosexuality is sinful, since they already believe that? It would make more sense that the media is offended.

thought | 12.11.07 04:23 AM

Huckabee is the most likeable candidate among the Republicans. Please don't dismiss this. There are views that I clearly disagree with. But I like him; I simply like him.

alex | 12.11.07 09:46 AM

Many of you are taking Huckabee's side but it is also true that he always flip flop his views on critical topics like "Huckabee: Immigrant Scholarship Bill had conditions" and now he "Huckabee lied about Scholarship legislation"

Emmy | 12.17.07 04:00 AM

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