Huckabee and Obama win Iowa

Well, Huckabee and Obama won the Iowa Caucus for their respective parties. It was actually quite interesting that Huckabee won, seeing as how he operated on a "show-string budget" and is by all means, one of the underdogs in the Republican Party.

Obviously, Huckabee's success to a large degree is the fact that he is a religious (and a Protesant) and is not only a fiscally conservative politician, but also socially conservative and religious in the conventional sense (sorry Romney) of religious with regards to the Republican Party. This aspect of Huckabee makes him strong since there is no other candidate that appeals to the religious right (For example, Guliani is hated by many Christians for his pro-choice stance, which is now something in the middle of pro-choice and pro-life...).

Will Huckabee be another Howard Dean though? I predict much so. Huckabee's popularity will be strong in the "Bible Belt" so to say, because of his affinity amongst the religious conservatives of the party. However, as he gets to the larger and more important coastal cities, where religion is not as large an issue (there was a demographics study done by the Times that substantiates this, I'm too lazy to link it), he will lose votes.

Now, don't get me wrong, Huckabee has some good policy stances. I give hive HEAVY kudos for his anti-IRS and anti-tax code stance. I like his idea of a national sales tax (or Fair Tax). I do not like his overly socially conservative stance though. I don't like the fact that he believes people with ADIS should be "quarantined."

In 1992, Huckabee wrote, "If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague."

"It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents."

In any regards, I predict that Huckabee won't be presidential candidate if he continues to be so socially-conservative. Then again, maybe America wants someone this socially-conservative. I sure don't.