"Did Huckabee Go Too Far?"
That's the title of a column by the AP's Ron Fournier on the press conference that Mike Huckabee gave today. It was, by all accounts, a bizarre event. The purpose of the event was to play Huckabee's new ad attacking Mitt Romney for reporters. Huckabee arrived late, giving the reporters plenty of time to peruse anti-Romney placards around the room, and announced that he had had a change of heart:
After running an unconventional, surprisingly strong and sometimes strange race to the top tier of the Republican presidential campaign, the former Arkansas governor topped himself Monday with a campaign stunt that smacked of hypocrisy.He called a news conference to unveil a negative ad that he had just withdrawn from Iowa television stations because, he told a room full of journalists recording the ad, he had a sudden aversion to negative politics. Quite a convenient epiphany.
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[Huckabee] did what desperate candidates do. Huckabee took himself off the campaign trail Sunday to shoot a negative ad. He bought $30,000 in television time to air the spot and called a news conference to unveil it.While awaiting the late-arriving Huckabee, more than 50 reporters and a dozen photographers got to read five huge cards placed on easels by Huckabee's staff — all highly critical of Romney's record as governor.
"Enough is enough," the signs said.
When Huckabee arrived, he announced that he had just changed his mind. The ad wouldn't run. It was too negative. "I believe the people of Iowa deserve better, and we are going to try and give them better ...," he said.
But he didn't. Instead, Huckabee showed off the spot to the journalists, knowing full well his negative message would seep out of the room. He told the media to pay close attention.
"You're not going to get a copy of it," he warned, "so this is your chance to see it, then after that you'll never see it again."
The media laughed.
As Fournier points out, the most negative line in the anti-Romney ad, "If a man is dishonest to obtain a job, he'll be dishonest on the job," is one that Huckabee has used before and continues to use:
Funny that Huckabee decided at noon that line was too negative, because he used it six hours earlier during a national TV interview.He used it on a Sunday news show, too.
And he didn't disavow the line Monday. "I said what I said. I spoke the truth," Huckabee said.
The media helped to build Huckabee up, but if Fournier's reaction is typical, the honeymoon may be over.
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