Although Mike Huckabee has declined to enter the race for the 2012 Republican Primary Nomination, he is now starting to emerge as a kind of ‘power-broker’ to some of the candidates.

The logic of Huckabee isn’t too difficult to notice, it’s clearly based on the “Any Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend” concept.  There are no prizes for guessing who that is aimed towards.  

During the Michigan gubernatorial election of 2010, Huckabee endorsed Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox.  Cox was one of the three front runners during the Michigan GOP Gubernatorial Primaries, and the only one that didn’t endorse Romney during his 2008 Presidential Candidacy.

Pastor Huck then went onto proclaim Cox was “pro-life, pro-gun candidate, an innovative strong leader who opposes runaway tax and spend policies.” Quite a reward for the Michigan Attorney General that acknowledged having an extramarital affair in 2005, and a much needed boost for the Cox campaign already smeared by the murky Tamara ‘Strawberry’ Greene civil case.

It was Tim Pawlenty that fired the early shots against Romney in the 2012 GOP Primaries, when he appeared on Fox News Sunday, calling Romney’s Massachusetts Health Care Plan ‘Obamanycare’. The following night during the 2011 June 13th CNN Debate in New Hampshire, Pawlenty backed off when directly asked to expand upon his comments made about Romney. Later on he sent a message on Twitter taking another shot towards Romney: “On seizing debate opportunity re: healthcare: Me 0, Mitt 1. On doing healthcare reform the right way as governor: Me 1, Mitt 0″.

It didn’t matter that these ill-conceived antics failed for Pawlenty, they served as the perfect qualifications to be helped by a ‘Huck Family’ connection.  In this case Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who also managed her father’s Iowa winning campaign from 2008. Sanders has since become Pawlenty’s senior political adviser, now looking to beef up Pawlenty’s upcoming Ames Straw Poll and his lagging Iowa Poll numbers.

Then there is Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, the new Anti-Romney prodigy. After coming out with a few digs aimed at Romney, he maintained his attacks were not from a potential or current politician, rather just from a regular resident of the United States. McCotter was soon rewarded for the effort with a guitar jam on the Godfather’s Fox TV show.

Like I said, Huckabee is playing the “Any Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend” move, and Iowa defeat for Romney is Godfather Huck’s reward. It would be beneficial right now to point out the disadvantages of vote splitting. The more candidates fielded of one political caliber, the more chance it splits the votes. Taking that into account, Godfather Huck’s antics might actually be handing Romney Iowa based on his inadvertent vote splitting.

Craig Edwards

Paul Egan/ Detroit News Lansing Bureau

Lansing — Support in Michigan for native son Mitt Romney is far ahead of the backing for any other GOP presidential hopefuls, according to a new statewide poll.

The poll was taken after Romney’s June 9 visit to Detroit and the June 13 GOP debate in which he made clear his opposition to the federal bailouts of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, which many credit with saving the automakers and their suppliers.

In the poll of 600 likely voters, 28.7 percent said they would vote for Romney in an open Michigan primary.

Of the five other names offered to voters, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was second with 5.8 percent support, Michele Bachmann was third at 4.5 percent, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was fourth at 2.8 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was fifth at 1.8 percent.

U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Livonia, whose name was offered in the poll after he said in May he is mulling a presidential bid, polled last at 1.7 percent.

Another 26 percent were undecided, 18 percent said they wouldn’t vote in the primary, and 8 percent said they didn’t like any names mentioned.

Attorney General Bill Schuette, Romney’s statewide chairman in Michigan, said he’s “very pleased” by the numbers, but it’s early and “the most important poll is the one in 2012.”

The poll was commissioned by the bipartisan Lansing public relations firm Lambert, Edwards & Associates and The Perricone Group and conducted June 16-17 by Denno Research. Chuck Perricone is a former GOP House Speaker. Dennis Denno is a former Democratic communications expert.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110623/POLITICS02/106230408/Romney-ahead-in-Michigan-poll#ixzz1Q5eTFcQP

GOP’s Benishek leads Dem McDowell for U.S. House seat, new survey shows

Nathan Hurst / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Washington — Republican Dan Benishek is in a virtual tie in the race for Michigan’s 1st District U.S. House seat, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Benishek leads state Rep. Gary McDowell, D-Rudyard, 42 percent to 39 percent, in the survey of 404 likely voters released by Washington-insider newspaper the Hill. The 3 percentage point lead is within the 4.9 percent margin of error, and shows a significant shift from early post-primary internal polling in the district, which showed Benishek with double-digit advantages.

The latest poll was conducted by New York-based polling firm Penn Schoen Berland and sponsored by the American Natural Gas Institute.

Read More at The Detroit News

RELATED LISTENING: Dan Benishek Interview Solid Principles Podcast – Episode 29

‘R’ recently sent us a message via Facebook suggesting this article be added to the Solid Principles Blog.

He added:  ”Mike Cox is the only candidate out of the top three running for governor here in Michigan not to endorse Gov. Romney in 2008.  I guess the enemy of my enemy is my friend?”

Livonia — Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox has picked up an endorsement from Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who ran for president in 2008.

In a statement released Wednesday by Cox’s campaign, Huckabee describes the Michigan attorney general as a “pro-life, pro-gun candidate.”
Huckabee says Cox is an innovative, strong leader who opposes “runaway tax and spend policies.”

Huckabee was Arkansas governor from 1996-2007 and unsuccessfully sought the GOP presidential nomination two years ago.
Cox is running to succeed Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who cannot seek re-election because of term limits.

Read Complete Article at The Detroit News