To be fair, I think there are several advantages Huckabee has as a candidate over Buchanan. For one, Huckabee’s populism is homespun, woven with folksy humor, and delivered with a spoonful of sugar. The concept of Buchanan supporters storming the castle with pitchforks, combined with his fiery rhetoric, turned away a lot of people. Also, unlike Buchanan, Huckabee was actually elected to political office. With that said, it remains to be seen whether Huckabee can energize his supporters, let alone consolidate conservative support in New Hampshire, like Buchanan did in 1996.
