Longtime GOP strategist Ed Rollins, who guided Ronald Reagan in his 1984 landslide re-election campaign, explains on CNN’s Lou Dobbs today why he joined Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s Presidential campaign. He also explains how it came about and how Reagan would likely be received today by National Review and others:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MMavT8PyNM
NOTE: Rollins is a heavy-hitter. Not only has he proven to be a good strategist (and they all have their good and bad moments, although Democratic strategist Bob Shrum has seemingly had more recent bad ones than good ones) but he is an EXCELLENT talking head on TV, as you can see here. He knows how to communicate and connects with his audience. So Huckabee has in-effect hired someone who can help him on two fronts — in the campaign (he is experienced) and as a face and voice on the screen (he is experienced). But Rollins does has his critics such as this one.
Putting aside ideology, positions etc and looking at this in purely political science terms, Huckabee’s candidacy (which is still considered a long shot by many) is stronger today with Rollins on his side.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.