A Mike Huckabee quip doesn't square with reality
As we learned during the Republican primary season, Mike Huckabee rarely can resist one-liners -- even when, as was the case in his speech Wednesday night at the GOP's national convention, facts get in the way.
As part of the concerted party effort to respond to questions raised about Sarah Palin's experience level, Huckabee said John McCain's running mate got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, than Joe Biden -- the vice presidential nominee on the Democratic ticket -- could garner in his failed White House bid this year.
The crowd laughed. But the numbers don’t add up.
In 1996, when Palin was elected mayor, she won 651 votes; in 1999, she was reelected with 909 votes, according to records posted on the city's website.
Although Biden's fifth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses led to him quickly exit the presidential race, Democratic officials recorded that 2,328 Iowans showed up to back him that night.
And because Biden's name remained on the ballot in some contests, he ended up with 79,754 votes in the overall tally for the nomination race.
Also as part of the bid to square what Palin brings to the table with Biden, a six-term senator, Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, noted for the delegates that Alaska has the same number of electoral votes as Delaware -- three -- but was more than 200 times as large in land mass.
-- James Hohmann
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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James,
And all this matters why? We all know Huckabee is a comedian want-to-be and Obama is a preacher want-to-be. Expect desperate stretching from both of them as they pretend to do politics.
Posted by: ted811 | September 04, 2008 at 05:23 AM
And exactly why is this newsworthy?
Posted by: Puzzled | September 04, 2008 at 06:26 AM
Watching his speech, his intent was pretty obviously sarcastic hyperbole, not a factual statement. This is hardly worthy of a LA Times blog's attention.
Posted by: ZB | September 04, 2008 at 06:42 AM
The Democrats are in trouble NOW, moms home and she just put Barack over her knee!
Posted by: EmilyCat | September 04, 2008 at 07:53 AM
Whats your point? She's more qualified than Barry. Break down whatever numbers you wish, and she's more qualified than Barry. Oh, and Biden is a blow hard, everyone knows that. However, I do agree with him, when he said Barry has no experience and POTUS is not a place for on the job training.
Posted by: xjug1987 | September 04, 2008 at 08:31 AM
Huh! I wondered about that quip. Thanks for the illuminating post.
The other odd remark Huckabee made (in what I thought was overall a pretty good speech) was regarding Obama's European jaunt, where he brought back "European ideas" with him.
I'm an Obama supporter, so maybe I'm biased here, but I'm pretty sure the man's ideas about government have been pretty clear since the race began*.
*Cue comment about Nobama not having any actual ideas. Suit yourself, if that's what you believe. Or, you know, read more--you might disagree with them, but they've certainly been there from the start.
Posted by: Andrew | September 04, 2008 at 08:33 AM
No surprise...HuckaBEEN has never been one to let facts get in the way during any of his adventures!
His quote attributed to Lincoln was wrong also.
Posted by: Shelby | September 04, 2008 at 09:11 AM
I'd venture that it was a figure of speech on Huckabee's part.
Still I'd like to see if she got more votes for Governor than he got for Pres... notice you didn't dig those numbers up.
Posted by: Paul | September 04, 2008 at 09:37 AM
"And all this matters why?"
Because facts still matter to *some* people.
And that's what the press should be reporting; the truth behind the lies of any and all sides.
Posted by: Freedom Eagle | September 04, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Give it up Barry...your days are numbered and your gig is up!!! MCCAIN/PALIN '08!!!! And just for the record "Shelby", you've had a gripe with Huckabee since the beginning of his campaign. Move on already!!!
Posted by: EuropeanTraveler | September 05, 2008 at 04:34 PM