HUCKABEE'S SIXTY CITY BOOK TOUR

Mike Huckabee has a new book just released. It’s called A Simple Christmas. Mike is on a 60 city book signing tour. Today he was at the University of Notre Dame bookstore. He was scheduled to sign books from 2 till 3 p.m. I arrived at the bookstore at 1:30 and stopped at the Starbucks for a cup of coffee before lining up to get my book signed. I didn’t actually buy his new book, but rather one he wrote in 2008. Do the Right Thing is a book I’ve been wanting to read.

I was sitting at Starbucks. It was 1:40 p.m. when Mike Huckabee walked through Starbucks on his way to the designated book signing area. When I saw him, he smiled and I stood to shake hands. We shook hands and I simply said, Jim Doyle. He said it was a pleasure to meet me and proceeded to the signing area. He had decided to start early. I decided I should probably get in line. Even though I arrived early I found myself in a line of about 100. The bookstore had created a ‘zig zag’ configuration much like amusement parks have leading up to a particular ride. They did this by hanging chain between aisles of books. I finally found the end of the line and slowly began moving up.

You meet some interesting people in a line like this. Since it took me about ten minutes to get to where Mike was signing books, I struck up a conversation with a guy in front of me and a woman behind. The guy is the owner of a small business and the woman is an administrative assistant at a local bank. They were both obviously Mike Huckabee fans. Why else would we have been in line to get his signature in a book we had just purchased? The man had both Mike’s books and a copy of Sarah Palin’s new book, Going Rogue. The woman had only Mike’s new book, A Simple Christmas. They are both hoping Mike runs for President in 2012. I told them I felt it would depend on Obama’s first term. If by some chance Obama looks like a sure thing for a 2nd term, I doubted Huckabee would run. If Obama’s first term goes down in flames, I felt there was a good chance Huckabee would enter the republican primaries, win, and run against the incumbent. The small business owner is not happy with Obama. He's especially unhappy with Obama's governmental takover of the healthcare system. We decided we have no clue about Sarah. The one thing we did decide is that she would not be running for Alaska Governor!

I finally got close enough to take Mike’s picture with my cell phone. They couldn’t accomodate pictures of any of us with Mike. When I arrived at his desk with my book in hand, Huckabee said, “hi Jim, we meet again”. I kid you not. Needless to say I was impressed. I handed Mike my business card and told him that if he decided to run, I would love to work on his campaign. He told me that if he chose to run he would certainly be in touch. I believe he will contact me if in fact he chooses to run in the primaries. To work on a campaign at the national level would be a real treat. We’ll see what happens.

After I walked away I checked on the line. There were still more people in line than were in line when I lined up. Between the 60 cities tour, and of course his weekly TV show, he’s getting to be quite well known throughout the U.S. He certainly was little known when he jumped into the 2008 primaries. I think he’d be a great President. I hope the majority of voters feel the same way. Mike is articulate, has a great sense of humor and is adverse to putting a "spin" on all of his statements. If he is wrong he admits it and learns from his mistakes. His mantra is “bringing common sense back to America”. God knows we could use a little of that.

jim doyle
doyle262@gmail.com