A-Hunting We Will Go

Look at this.


Mike Huckabee on a pheasant hunt in Iowa. (Keith Bedford/Reuters)

I think that hunting photo-op looks worse than the mysterious, even miraculous, bookcase that appears as a cross in Huckabee's Christmas message.

It's such a dumb, posed, pandering sort of thing to do.

Huckabee reminds me of the desperate John Kerry back in 2004.

I don't think Huckabee needs to do that.



I wonder how many voters are swayed by these lame images.

With just days to go until the Iowa caucuses, it seems positively goofy to be running around with a gun on a pheasant farm.

I think Huckabee looks like a fool, but it's part of what the New York Times calls the "final sprint" before the caucuses and the primaries begin. It's say and do anything time.

With a brief holiday break behind them, the presidential campaign resumed in earnest on Wednesday as several of the Democratic and Republican candidates fanned out across this state to begin making their final pitches to voters eight days before the Iowa caucuses open the nominating fight for the White House.

“How was Christmas, good?” said Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, speaking to hundreds of voters gathered in a school gymnasium here. “You know what I got for Christmas? Eight hours sleep. It was outstanding.”

After gently tip-toeing through the Christmas season, Republican and Democratic candidates shelved their uplifting holiday television commercials and returned to the aggressive business of campaigning for the most wide-open presidential nomination in more than a half-century. On Jan. 3, Iowa opens a chaotic, monthlong series of caucuses and primaries, narrowing the field before voters in 21 states cast ballots on Feb. 5.

The fight for the Republican nomination remains so competitive and uncertain that Senator John McCain of Arizona, who had all but sworn off Iowa, returned to the state on Wednesday for a three-day campaign swing. With his poll standings rising in New Hampshire, aides believe a stronger-than-expected finish here could bolster his chances in the Jan. 8 primary in New Hampshire.

As former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas went pheasant hunting in southern Iowa and former Senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee kicked off the second-leg of a bus tour nearby, another leading Republican rival, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, spent the day campaigning in New Hampshire, working to bolster his support there before returning to Iowa later this week.

Meanwhile, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York City campaigned Wednesday in Florida, which holds its primary on Jan. 29, as he continued to concentrate on winning in that big state to jump-start his presidential drive. Mr. Huckabee is expected to head to Florida on Wednesday evening.

But for most candidates, a presidential campaign that began nearly a year ago is grinding down to a frenetic push in Iowa, particularly on the Democratic side, where Mr. Obama, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina appear to be locked in a three-way contest.

So Huckabee is hunting, or at least pretending; and the Dems are locked in a three-way.

What fun!

Mrs. Clinton and former President Bill Clinton plan to return to Iowa later on Wednesday, embarking on a tour entitled, “It’s time to pick a president.” The Clintons’ arrival was delayed Wednesday afternoon because of air traffic congestion in New York, according to a statement released by the campaign.

"It's time to pick a president" tour?

That sounds like the title of a children's book.

Flying in from Chicago, Mr. Obama arrived here on Wednesday morning, where about 500 people were waiting in the gymnasium of the Newman Catholic High School in Mason City. His remarks conveyed a fresh moment of urgency in the race, making his most overt appeal to voters who are supporting other candidates.

“By the way, some of you may have decided, you know, ‘I really love Joe Biden or Chris Dodd or somebody else,’ ” Mr. Obama said. “We’re getting close enough that if you’re firm in that decision, we still want to be your second choice.”

For Democrats, the rules of the Iowa caucuses require candidates to receive at least 15 percent support in each of the 1,781 precincts across the state on Jan. 3. If a candidate does not reach that level of viability, they must select a second-choice among the six major Democratic candidates in the race, including Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, or Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut.

Democratic strategists believe an unusually high number of voters remain either undecided or are willing to change their minds in the final days of the race. While positions on particular issues drive the decision for many voters, the themes of change versus experience appear to linger as the most perplexing.

“Everybody now is talking about change,” Mr. Obama said. “If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then we’re doing pretty good, because at the beginning of this campaign we said we’re going to bring about change and do things differently, and now everybody’s talking about change.

“That’s fine,” Mr. Obama said. “But when you make a decision to caucus, you’ve got to ask yourself, who’s been about change their whole lives?”

In a closing television commercial being shown here on Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton looks directly into the camera, saying: “We’ve never needed change more, nor the strength and experience to make it happen.”

The process of running for president is so demeaning.

Obama's upset that Hillary has decided to be the candidate of change. She's infringing on his territory.

Hillary is a liar. She's not experienced and she's not strong. She's not about change. She's about the past. She is the '90s.

I'm waiting for chameleon Hillary to don the blaze orange and go hunting. She'd put on a helmet and take a ride in a tank if she thought it would help her win.

I do admire Fred Thompson for refusing to play those games. The strategy isn't landing him a lot of support, but he's maintaining his dignity.

I mean no disrespect to the people of Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina. I just don't think a handful of voters in those states should be treated as if they have the power to choose the nominees. There has to be a better way to pick a president.