Huckabee in a landslide

The votes are in and Governor Mike Huckabee has won a decisive victory for best Christmas commercial! Here's a pretty graph to prove it.

Thanks to everyone who voted or left a comment; the results were very instructive.

First, nearly everyone's favorite commercial was done by their favorite candidate. In a way, this should be obvious, but I still found it surprising. It's instructive to realize that when you're watching a speech or commercial by your candidate and thinking, "How could anyone not like this guy?", others are wondering how anyone could. Once you've found a candidate whose message you connect with, you view everything about that person and his or her opponents through a filter. It's rare that another candidate is going to break through that.

Second, Governor Huckabee has attracted a lot of support, particularly among Christians. Again, this certainly isn't news in Iowa, where he now leads, but I'm surprised to see how widespread it is. I have no numbers to back this up, but presumably a high percentage of readers of this blog are Christians, particularly people involved in ministry in one way or another. Many of you have apparently found a lot to like about the governor.

And which was my favorite? The Obama video. I enjoyed it's simplicity (notice there is no background music) and having the entire family be part of it (and not just as decoration). I also loved it's hopeful spirit, that there might be more that unites us than divides us.

I appreciated John Edwards' emphasis on the least of these and Huckabee definitely comes across well. However, I'm not a fan of politicians who pour themselves into a campaign for president, than suddenly step back and say, "I bet you're tired of all this. And you know what, so am I." It strikes me as a ploy to seem above it all.

I laughed at both the Giuliani and Clinton ads, but they also reminded me why I don't want either one of them to be president. I know that the commercials are supposed to be humorous, but there's always some truth behind good humor. Both of these ads strike me as very arrogant, as if either of these flawed human beings can "give us" anything. Rather than talking about what we can accomplish together as a country, they have the feel of a king or queen making promises to the peasants. Again, this would be funnier to me if I didn't believe that both of them largely see the world that way.

Here's one more Christmas ad, this one for John McCain.

Comments

[Sue Steege]

Brian- I don't know if it was like this for everyone, but when I tried to press that "no" my favorite commercial was NOT by my favorite candidate, it wouldn't let me vote, so in the quest to vote, I said that "yes", my favorite candidate was also my favorite commercial. If this was true for others, it could skew the results.

This also gives me the opportunity to thank you thank you for writing "The Blogging Church"! What a fantastic tool it has been for me (sweetsoup.wordpress.com)and for my colleague in ministry Jason Christ (jasonthedce.wordpress.com! I would (and have) recommend it to anyone. Blogging is having a real impact in building the community at First Trinity (our church). Thanks!!!!

[Brian Bailey]

I see what you mean on the drop-down - how annoying! Sorry about that. I've made it optional, but I'm sure it caused some confusion.

Thanks so much for your kind words about the book - that really means a lot!

Merry Christmas!

[Ben Tremblay]

Did you see how Huckabee came out strong on Romney, i.e. "His campaign is dishonest" and then turn on a dime i.e. not gonna get into negative campaign.

As a left-libertarian / quasi-anarchist I have been calling for a clear, strong, authentic expression of conservative values so we can get on with the work that is the "emancipation project" in which the Framers so staunchly believed.
Else? Else I'll see you on the barricades ... as last year, 3 years ago, 2 years before that, 8 years before that, 6 years before that &tc &tc, so next year, and next year, and next year.

I per force tweeted just now: "US rigged elections in Iran, Lebanon, Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua ... now Kenyans and Pakistanis do it to themselves."
We can run with the yuppie sophists or we can run with the neo-realists and in both cases take shelter behind plausible deniability, or we can stand on the shoulders of the giants who've preceeded us and hoe in, with the honesty of the farmer and the black-smith and the sawyer.

Else?
Else the savage god.

best to all people of good will in '08
we iz gonna be tested, ayup ayup

^5
--bentrem