Attention Must Be Paid

Spotlight, and Scrutiny, Find Surging Huckabee

Mike Huckabee was an obscure Arkansas governor three years ago when he invited a dozen pundits to lunch at a Capitol Hill eatery.

"That was when I began to form the impression this was a guy with real communications skills and real potential," says CNBC correspondent John Harwood. "He plainly had real gifts for talking about policy in a very human way."

The courtship paid dividends. When the latest man from Hope launched his presidential bid, he was depicted as a funny, charming, guitar-playing preacher who had miraculously shed 110 pounds -- and who would need divine intervention to win the Republican nomination. Hard-news stories, meanwhile, treated him like an asterisk.

"I got obliterated in news coverage," Huckabee says. "The frustrating thing was, a lot of people weren't even aware that I was running." Reporters, he says, "were basing everything on 'How much money have you got?' I couldn't wave a big checkbook in their face."

But, he says in an interview volunteered by his campaign, "I got feature coverage from columnists who felt someone like me ought to get attention."

Now that Huckabee has surged to a 22-point lead in Iowa (as reported in today's Newsweek cover story, "Holy Huckabee") and second place among Republicans nationally, journalists are suddenly fascinated by the man -- and chasing every negative story around. Huckabee, in turn, hasn't exactly been elusive during the process.

Last Monday, a day after appearing on ABC's "This Week," Huckabee was on CBS's "Early Show," the "CBS Evening News" and "Nightline." He was featured on the front pages of USA Today and the New York Times (twice) last week, and bounced from "Today" to "Hardball" to "The Situation Room" to "Morning Joe."

Kirsten Fedewa, a longtime Huckabee adviser, says the early conclaves with national political writers and columnists were crucial. "It helped him to establish relationships and articulate his vision to an audience of tough-minded, politically savvy reporters," she says. "He really had to go around the conventional wisdom by going to people who would carry his story."

Rex Nelson, Huckabee's former communications chief, likens the charm offensive -- which peaked when Huckabee was chairman of the National Governors Association -- to that of another Arkansas governor, Bill Clinton. "In an era of programmed politicians who won't stray from the talking points, he's a good quote," Nelson says.

National Journal's Ron Brownstein says he found Huckabee "very engaging" at one such session, but didn't expect his rapid rise. Fedewa, he says, "was very dogged about making you aware of his movements. She would always be e-mailing."

When Huckabee announced his candidacy in January, he got brief mentions on the NBC and ABC evening newscasts and none on CBS. "Huckabee enters the race as a long shot," The Washington Post said.

But not everyone gave Huckabee short shrift. Syndicated columnist E.J. Dionne wrote that month that Huckabee was "the Republican to watch . . . a southerner with unassailable Christian evangelical credentials."