Wednesday, October 13, 2010

NYT: Obama Aides Predict Huckabee as Nominee [UPDATED]

In a fascinating New York Times Magazine article entitled, "The Education of President Obama," presidential aides look to 2012 and handicap the race for the GOP nomination — with none other than Governor Huckabee coming out on top:

Obama’s aides say they will most likely set up their re-election campaign around next March, roughly the same as when Bush and Clinton incorporated their incumbent campaign operations. They are more optimistic about 2012 than they are about 2010, believing the Tea Party will re-elect Barack Obama by pulling the Republican nominee to the right. They doubt Sarah Palin will run and figure Mitt Romney cannot get the Republican nomination because he enacted his own health care program in Massachusetts. If they had to guess today, some in the White House say that Obama will find himself running against Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor.

Read the whole thing...

Update #1: A simple mention in an 8,000 word piece on the President, this nugget is being pulled out by numerous political news media:

Politico:

“The Education of a President,” Peter Baker’s cover story in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, offers a few glimpses of what President Barack Obama and his top aides are thinking nearly two years after his historic election as the nation’s first black president.

Here are 10 takeaways:

1. Some of those around the president believe he’ll face former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2012, “if they had to guess today.”

Read the whole thing...

NPR:

President Obama really expected he would be able to change Washington, it wasn't just campaign rhetoric.

And some in his White House expect the 2012 Republican presidential nominee will be Mike Huckabee.

Those are two of the most salient elements from Peter Baker's New York Times Magazine piece on Obama before the midterms.

Read the whole thing...

GOP12.com:

Mike Allen pulls a fascinating nugget from Peter Baker's upcoming, Sunday N.Y. Times Magazine feature, "Education of President."

Is this a case of public posturing or private concern?

If it's the latter, the irony is that top Democratic bigwigs give Huck a better shot than Republicans.

Read the whole thing...

2 comments:

  1. Thanks, Alex, for pulling all this information together for us. I take it that you are thinking Gov. Huckabee will run for President. Or at least preparing in case he does run.

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  2. Of course the liberals submit the notion that Huckabee will be nominee---they did the same thing with McCain, and it ended up losing conservatives the White House. The actual headline should be, 'Liberals WANT Huckabee as the Nominee, but pass it off as an actual mathematical position, and Huckabee fans fall for it'

    I like Huckabee in general--better than Obama--but he's immature, and selfish--He cost conservatives a legitimate fight in 08 against Obama by staying in a losing race, even when he KNEW he couldn't win--but it took votes away from Romney--so that's good enough for a religious bigot :) Sorry, I mean no disrespect to you--and if he does indeed win the nomination, I will support his candidacy--even if he hates mormons.

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