I didn’t watch the debate (I was at church along with most of the Christian right 🙂 so I’m not sure what this was in response to but it’s absolutely brilliant! It demonstrates that Huckabee gets what is one of the biggest problems with the Republicans in office: their arrogance.It demonstrates that he gets our frustration with politicians who think they know what’s best but will not engage the American public in a dialogue about it. Bush should be more engaged with the public in what’s going on in Iraq, talking about the failures and the successes. He should have continued to make the case why this war is important for our safety. And the Congress (both Democrat and Republican) should listen when the public tells them that they are tired of the pork.

With responses like this, it’s no wonder people think he was one of the winners of the debate:

Mike Huckabee: What the former Arkansas governor needed was a strong debate performance to build momentum heading into Ames this weekend. And, he got it. Huckabee was again folksy and conservative — a style that should play well in Iowa both at the straw poll and in the caucuses. He gave an emotional testimony to his belief in the fair tax, cited his own personal struggle with weight and physical fitness and offered a common sense approach to solving the nation’s infrastructure problems without raising taxes. Now, if he could just raise some money…..

And was a hit with voters from Iowa:

Going into Sunday’s Republican presidential debate, most of the Iowans noshing on English muffins in the sun room of the neon-bedecked Drake Diner had never heard of Mike Huckabee, or knew very little about the ex-preacher and former governor of Arkansas.But by the debate’s end, they knew a lot more – and liked what they saw.”He speaks to you – he doesn’t try and make everything seem like the correct answer,” Jesse Fetters, 26, a FedEx handler from Des Moines, told The Politico afterward. “He just tells you his answer.”Rick Holland, 42, a self-employed plumber from Des Moines, was similarly impressed. “He just came across as an American – as just a hometown guy. That was a big deal to us.”Fetters and Holland were among 29 GOP voters from the Des Moines area assembled here by Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster and political consultant, and by Fox News.”Huckabee is hitting it out of the park with these people,” Luntz, a Fox contributor, said as he listened to comments from this small but influential group of voters, whose reactions will be featured on Fox News.Their reasoning – he was appealing because he seemed like a non-Washington, regular guy – may sound a wake-up call for the leaders in the race.The Huckabee campaign also was buoyed by a new Washington Post/ABC News poll that shows him tied for fourth with Arizona Sen. John McCain, a rare chance for the former governor to savor the rarified air toward the front of the pack.