Baxter County Arkansas Republican Straw Poll - Not Good News for Mike Huckabee

ARRA Editor: Mountain Home - In the Arkansas Ozark Mountains in the City of Mountain Home, one of the largest and most interesting county fairs in the state occurs. This year for just an a couple hours, unannounced one of the volunteers at the Republican booth (not associated with the ARRA) asked people who stopped by the booth if they wished to cast a vote in an unofficial straw poll. There was no charge; there was no registration; just citizens expressing themselves. People wishing to vote for a democrat were referred to the near by Democrat booth. In the short period, 72 people voted for their candidate. Results: Fred Thompson: 49%; Mike Huckabee (from Arkansas): 21%; John McCain: 8%; Rudy Giuliani: 7%; Ron Paul: 3%; Mitt Romney: 3%; Duncan Hunter: 1%; Sam Brownback & John Cox: 0%.

The results were interesting because Mike Huckabee as both a candidate and as the Governor of Arkansas has visited and spoken to Baxter County Republicans many times over the years. But, there can be drawbacks when people know a candidate too closely. In a followup, we discovered why many Arkansas Republicans do not identify Huckakee as a "favorite son" candidate. As Governor, Huckabee appointed democrats over quality republicans for key state committee positions; he promoted increased taxation via what is locally known as "sin" taxes - increased taxes on tobacco products, liquor; and he pushed weighing all school children and reporting their weight to their parents. Citizens remember Mike when he was slim, fat, obese, losing wait and finally a reformed health addict. But the most serious complaints were his mismanagement of the Arkansas Republican Party; his failure to use Lt. Governor Win Rockefeller to promote business growth in Arkansas; and before leaving office, his leadership resulting in lose of every state executive office to the democrats. Many Arkansas Republicans indicated they will not vote for Mike Huckabee in the GOP primary but if he wins the GOP's nomination, they will vote for him in the general election.

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Tags: Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, Republican, straw poll