Back in 2005, when Mike Huckabee was hardly a household name, there was one true believer who focused on his task. I talked to Eric Woolson on the phone one day soon after he had decided to work with Huckabee's fledgling campaign.
"Mike WHO?" I remember asking, thinking that my phone had cut out a bit while Woolson uttered the unfamiliar name. "Mike Huckabee," he said again. Knowing that Eric and I couldn't be further apart in our views on politics, and knowing his past preference for religious, conservative candidates, I smiled to myself and half-heartedly wished him well. That'll never work...is what I was really thinking. His previous foray into Iowa politics with "Sponge Bob" Vanderplaats, a gubernatorial candidate in Iowa a few years back, was a miserable flop.
What I didn't expect, and what really happened this time, was that the combination of Eric Woolson, a top notch public relations professional and Mike Huckabee, a straight-talking guy with a great stump speech, would finish first in the republican Iowa Caucuses.
I still don't buy into any of Huckabee's positions on the issues, he is far too conservative and religious for my liking. His positions on abolishing the IRS and on immigration are not palatable. The fact that he used to catch and kill squirrels and cook them in a popcorn popper in his trailer frankly just grosses me out.
But if Huckabee chooses slick Washington D.C. political consultants over Eric Woolson, he will prove himself to be the yokel that he really is. Woolson is the most focused and talented PR pro I've ever seen. There's a great story in the Des Moines Register today about Woolson's rise to manage the biggest upset in Iowa Caucus history. It's worth a read.
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