The minute Mike Huckabee announced that he was NOT running for president, our Brody File cameras were there to capture the reaction of Tim Pawlenty. See below.
Okay, hey we’re having some fun here. Just roll with it. (And for those who have no clue, that is not Tim Pawlenty! But you get the point right?) Pawlenty is jumping for joy now that Huckabee is not in.
If Huckabee had gotten in, he would have been the GOP frontrunner and many Evangelicals around the country would have moved directly into the Huckabee column. With Huckabee now in the Fox News studio rather than in Iowa and other states, the take here at The Brody File is that Tim Pawlenty has a real chance to pick up a lot of those Huckabee supporters.
Pawlenty is an Evangelical (though a lot of people don’t know his story) and he has a common regular guy persona just like Huckabee. That combination will be attractive, but it will be up to Pawlenty to bring them into his base without pandering. Evangelicals can smell pander.
Rep. Michele Bachmann also has an opportunity here. If she decides to get in, she becomes even more potent in Iowa if she can pull some of those Huckabee votes into her column. With her ability to raise money, the Evangelical Bachmann is strengthened by Huckabee’s exit.
One final note: Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum may also be able to make a play for some of these Evangelical votes as well. Gingrich is strong on calling out radical Islam and Santorum has been in the trenches with Evangelicals, so he has “street cred.”
Watch to see if his numbers move.
As for Huckabee, I thought he was getting in. The path to the nomination was there, but I forgot one thing: prayer. Clearly, Huckabee felt the Lord did not want him to run and that was that.
I know the mainstream media might not be able to grasp that. I know they may think it’s all about money and that mansion he’s building down in Florida. But you know what? When you hear from the Lord and it’s clear you need to go in that direction....case closed.