Another significant endorsement....
Huckabee continues to piece together his 2008 caucus coalition.Posted by Craig Robinson on October 21, 2015.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee continues to reconstruct the political coalition in Iowa that helped him win the 2008 Iowa Republican caucuses.
Two months ago Huckabee earned the endorsement of Terry Amann, an influential pastor in Central Iowa who played a key role in Huckabee’s previous presidential campaign.
Today, Huckabee lands the endorsement of Barb Heki, another prominent grassroots conservative activists who has strong connections to the homeschool community.“He has a pastor’s heart and a commander-in-chief’s know-how,” Heki says in a statement the Huckabee campaign will put out later today about her endorsement. “He’s fighting tooth-and-nail against Common Core and has the right solution to the ultimate problem in education: get rid of all federal involvement and put the families back in charge,” she added.
Heki has been a fixture on conservative campaigns in Iowa. She’s not only worked on the campaigns of Bob Vander Plaats, but also supported conservative causes like the successful effort in 2010 to remove three Iowa Supreme Court Justices through Iowa’s retention process following the Iowa Court’s unanimous decision in Varnum vs. Brien, where the court ruled that Iowa’s Defense of Marriage Act violated the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution.
Heki’s endorsement of Huckabee may not be all that surprising since she has previously supported him, but in a race where Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Bobby Jindal, and Rick Santorum are all competing for the support of influential conservative activists, Huckabee’s ability to keep someone like Heki in the fold is a good sign.In 2008, Huckabee didn’t just squeak out a caucus victory in Iowa, he trounced Mitt Romney by nine points, besting him by almost 11,000 votes.
People tend to forget the size and magnitude of Huckabee’s 2008 Iowa win. It’s Huckabee, not George W. Bush, Bob Dole, or George H. W. Bush, that is the biggest vote getter in the history of the Iowa caucuses. If Huckabee were able to get the same 40,841 votes in 2016 that he got in 2008, it would probably be good enough for a win.
The polls may not reflect it, but Huckabee has been one of the few candidates who has kept his head down and focused on his own business.Since announcing his candidacy on May 5th, Huckabee has held 85 separate Iowa events in 60 of the 99 counties across the state. The Huckabee campaign has publicly announced 178 statewide Iowa leaders, including 77 county chairs.
http://theiowarepublican.com/2015/huckabee-continues-to-piece-together-his-2008-caucus-coalition/