Ignoring Huckabee Won’t Make Him Go Away

I could have called this “Mitt Romney Mailing,” but I’ve used that name format too much …

The money-rich Romney campaign sends mailings to my wife (who is registered Republican) each week, and every week I think about rebutting one claim or another. She usually talks me down.

Not this time.

Overall, it’s not that bad a mailing. A lot of things with which I don’t entirely agree, but that’s normal. After all, if I agreed with his campaign, I’d be with him, right?

But, no, there is that bar on the side that says Romney is the only major candidate who has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge of Americans for Tax Reform.

He might have been right at one point. Signing in January of this year, Gov. Romney might have been the first candidate to sign the pledge. But Gov. Mike Huckabee also did. So did Rep. Ron Paul.

The pledge was also signed by Rep. Tom Tancredo, Rep. Duncan Hunter, Gov. Jim Gilmore, and Sen. Sam Brownback. To be fair, it’s hard to argue that Tancredo and Hunter are major candidates, and the other two aren’t running now.

One can argue about whether Rep. Paul is a major candidate, but I think that at least his fund-raising and his organization deserve note. Gov. Huckabee, though, is rather inarguable. Rising in polls, he’s making a strong run on Iowa.  Nationally, Gov. Huckabee is ahead of Sen. Thompson, whom Gov. Romney does acknowledge is a major candidate.

I grant that the term “major” is subjective. One can hardly call this a lie, since the Romney campaign could simply define “major” as it sees fit to rule out Gov. Huckabee. However, I think that this represents a measure of arrogance. The choice has been made to ignore Gov. Huckabee (and Rep. Paul) in order to make this assertion.

This is the same kind of character flaw that has led Gov. Romney to withdraw from the Iowa debate, and why he didn’t attend the Values Voter Debate. Gov. Romney doesn’t like engaging with his challenges. He chooses to ignore that which he doesn’t like.

I would like to call on Gov. Romney simply to play fair and engage realistically and honestly.