This thought just occurred to me.
It's no secret that this presidential campaign is the longest in history. By now, those who have watched it--even with one eye!--from the beginning are pretty tired. The same storylines, the same stump speeches, the same people.....burnout is a real factor in this political environment.
Because it's gone on so long, the media outlets have to be dying for something intriguing and fresh to keep interest levels high. Which is why if I own the NY Times or CNN or FOX News, I'm salivating at the prospect of Huckabee catching fire in the next two weeks and sweeping his way into the generals.
Think of that storyline: poor, baptist preacher defeats rich everyone else, and does so in a matter of a few months of spending real money. That's unheard of in modern politics. It is not only a storyline fit for a movie: it is exactly the sort of storyline Huck needs to start building to win the primaries.
Which is why Tony Perkins, James Dobson and other Socon bigwigs who haven't backed a candidate should pick Huck now. The media likes Huckabee, and has clearly recognized that something special is going on in the grassroots. But they won't give it the legitimacy it deserves until he wins Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, or until the big names get behind him. If that happens, the storyline begins to write itself and Dobson, Perkins, etc. can take credit for putting him over the top in the primaries. The angst of Socons has been news enough--the firm resolution of the Socons behind a candidate could generate a frenzy.
And then, it's only a matter of maintaining the momentum and improving the weaknesses in the armor, because as we all know, storylines have a way of becoming self-fulfilling prophecies.
Matthew Lee Anderson
Matthew Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology in Baylor University's Honors College. He has a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University, and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. In 2005, he founded Mere Orthodoxy.
