This ARTICLE is showing what we have been reporting…The Slowly But Surely Campaign Huck is running is doing it…I posted the whole article…Enjoy…
Pella, Ia. - Mike Huckabee’s meet-and-greet event on Wednesday - his first in Iowa since a strong finish in the Iowa straw poll earlier this month - was similar to, yet strikingly different from, dozens of such events he has held all over the state.His message at a Pizza Ranch in this community of about 10,000 was mostly the same one the former Arkansas governor had offered many times in the days leading up to the Aug. 11 straw poll in Ames.Huckabee said he wants to be the president who “nails the going-out-of-business sign on the doors of the Internal Revenue Service.” The former Baptist minister joked about being the “other governor” from Hope, Ark. - a reference to former President Bill Clinton.Then he told the story about growing up with only Lava soap in his modest home, saying it wasn’t until college that he discovered showers weren’t supposed to be painful.The important difference is, a lot more people are hearing that message these days.For one thing, the media presence was exponentially larger than usual. Four video cameras and a photographer captured the glad-handing. National media are closely following the man who was once just a blip on the Iowa caucus radar.Then there were the people - about 50 of them on a dreary Wednesday morning.”Everywhere we’re going, our crowds have been two to four times the crowd we were expecting,” Huckabee told the group, adding that his campaign Web site has had 3.2 million visits since the straw poll.Huckabee unexpectedly placed second in the nonbinding vote, taken as part of a fundraiser for the state Republican Party, despite spending much less money on the event than his closest competitors. Mitt Romney received the most votes, and Sam Brownback placed third.The reason “you see so much media here today is that second place in the Iowa straw poll,” said Bob Vander Plaats, the Iowa campaign chairman for Huckabee’s presidential bid.”He got twice as many votes as he paid for. The other candidates got about half the votes they paid for.”Supporter Dell Collins, 52, cast one of those straw poll votes for Huckabee. In fact, his daughter Sara was pulled on stage to sing backup vocals when Huckabee’s band performed “Sweet Home Alabama” at the Ames event.”Do we vote with our heart? Or do we feel like we’re wasting our votes on a second-tier candidate?” said Collins, a Pella resident.”I like what he stands for. As governor, he held his positions and yet worked with the Democrats.”I’ll be voting for him.”One more difference: Huckabee has ditched the Winnebago motor home.He sped off to a radio appearance in Des Moines in a newer sedan.
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