How Huckabee’s Anonymity Helped Him Rise

We’ve included some statistically updated text after the jump. Audio will follow shortly.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has been making considerable political headway. According to November 28th Rasmussen Report, Huckabee’s gained twelve points in Iowa since November 16th and currently leads with 28% of the likely Republican vote. Close competitor Mitt Romney, meanwhile, has only a quarter of that vote and lost four points in the same period.

Today’s national numbers from the same source show that Huckabee’s jumped five points since November 28th, when he held on 12% of likely Republican voters and currently hold 17% of those voters. Number one stunner Rudy Giuliani has lost six percent of his support in that time and barely beats Huckabee with 20% of the likely Republican voters.

Now, some of you may be wondering how Mike Huckabee, a fairly unknown former Governor from Arkansas, has made such progress over Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, arguably two of the most recognizable politicians in America. I’ve got two words for you: anonymity and consistency.

Huckabee’s below the radar persona has helped shield him from politically motivated attacks, while his steady social conservatism gives him the right wing leg up. High profile Giuliani and Romney, however, have scads of enemies and even more political baggage, particularly when it comes to abortion, gays rights and marriage.

I’ll start with Rudy Giuliani, whose pro-gay and adulterous pasts got some fresh ink this week. New York based non-profit Empire State Pride Agenda made headlines with a collection of Giuliani’s historic gay rights fights.

In addition to showing the Republican at two of the same-sex marriage supporting group’s fundraisers, the records remind voters that Giuliani signed a bill granting gays domestic partner rights.

At that time, November of 1998, the then New York City mayor said the bill “will help to move society more in the direction of equal treatment for everyone.” He got even more gay friendly in 2004, when he told Bill O’Reilly he supports civil unions. He switched positions in April of this year, saying civil unions were too close to marriage. Quite the queer quagmire considering some of Giuliani’s past statements equate domestic partnership rights with marriage. Such waffling comes as any surprise – we all know Giuliani’s never been very good at defining marital boundaries.

The 63-year old politico’s tabloid ready love life has been on full display for years. We’ve all been reading about his extramarital affair with Judy Nathan since 2000. The seemingly endless gossip got fresh blood last week, however, when Politico.com passed on word that Giuliani’s personal and political lives had intermingled. The mayor had billed “obscure” city agencies for police escorts while canoodling with Nathan in the Hamptons. Giuliani used to the CNN/YouTube debates to rationalize the scandal. The former prosecutor said he had received numerous death threats, thus requiring 24/7 security. At least he used protection, right?

While Giuliani’s story makes sense, it did nothing to clear up why he billed other offices, not the New York Police Department, nor an ABC News source’s claim that Nathan used the cruisers as her “personal taxi service.” The oft-married mayor later explained to CBS’ Katie Couric that he shuffled the money to expedite payment, not hide inappropriate spending:

All those agencies that you’re talking about, all of it was fully reimbursed within that year. They’re all in the mayor’s office. This was a way of expediting payment. All of it on the record, all of it discoverable…

Giuliani went on to defend his political and personal judgment by saying he does things honorably and honestly. To be fair, Giuliani did the honorable thing and made an honest woman of Nathan. She’s now the third Mrs. Rudy Giuliani. I’m sure many Republicans wonder who’s going to be fourth.