Huckabee’s turn at Straw Poll

Below are the notes from Huckabee’s speech at the Straw Poll:

Video of Huckabee meeting voters is on the screen — a high-tempo version of "I’m Walkin’ on Sunshine" is the music underneath.  People in the video are dancing.  There are shots of Huckabee’s band.  Lots of happy, laughing people in the video.  "It’s time to feel good," is the lyric in the song.

Now, Bob Vander Plaats is on the mic — "the governor from Hope, Arkansas that’s not going to marry Hillary Clinton.  He’s going to beat Hillary Clinton," is how Vander Plaats intros Huckabee.

"What an incredible day this is….give America back to the people on Main Street," Huckabee began.

"A Republican in my state feels about as out-of-place as Michael Vick at the Westminster Dog Show," he joked.

:"I can’t buy you….I can’t even rent you, but today, the straw poll is a day that can change all of that because the Straw poll is not about electing a straw man….and the fact is these are voters here who understand that they’re buying the cereal, not just the box," Huckabee said.

Now, on to the optimistic message.  Mentions Jesus parable.

"I know where I’ve come from.  It’s been an uphill battle….I understand what struggle means..born into a family in which I was the first male in my family liheage just to finish high school….I like the mountain top but I’ve spent a lot more of my life in the valley…that’s where we grow."

"The greatest gift we can give to the next generation is to sacrifice for them rather than sacrifice them for ourselvees," he said.

Next up, Fair Tax, then secure borders.

"We appreciate the fact that we live in a country that people are trying to break into, not that they’re trying to break out of, but we want to make sure that…it’s at least as hard to get into this country through an international border….as it is to get on an airplane," he said.

Suggests turning over tracking of illegals to FedEx.

Now, energy message….suggests US should tell the Middle East:  "Keep your oil.  Put it on your salads, put it in your hair," Huckabee said of foreign oil.

Talks about food secucrity. 

"Let’s be a party that can communicate and articulate without confrontation….(merges into pro-life message)….Today, we wait anxiously for the fate of those coal miners in Huntington, Utah not because we know them personally but because they’re fellow human beings…that says a lot about who we are as people…We do value life, unlike Islamic jihadists."

Talks about his nine visits to Israel and taking his children there.  "I want them to see when good people do nothing….(re: Holocaust)…when evil is unrestrained by goodness."  Tells story of taking daughter on a trip to Israel.

"Why didn’t somebody do something?" his daughter wrote in the guest book.

"We are the somebodies (who can do something)….give me your vote in this Straw Poll."

Now, John Cougar is singing Rockin’ in the USA as Huckabee exits stage.