Just catching up briefly on some e-mail and saw this from Friday from Huckabee’s Joe Carter:

Subject: Please Lower Your Expectations
1. Expectations Management
There’s been a lot of buzz lately about “managing expectations” going into Iowa. I’m not sure about the other campaigns, but here at the Huckabee camp we expect to win—just as we expect to win the nomination and the general election. Apparantly, not everyone feels the same.
Jennifer Rubin from the American Spectator Blog quotes an interesting tidbit from the LA Times: “But in a sure sign of concern, the Romney camp has begun to raise the prospect of a second-place Iowa finish, insisting it would not hurt his chances in the contests that follow. ‘It would be nice if Romney won,’ said Doug Gross, an attorney overseeing Romney’s Iowa campaign. ‘If he finishes in the top two, he’s fine.’”
Fine with second in Iowa? The Romney campaign dumped about $7 million into Iowa while we’ve spent, approximately, $327.00. Maybe they are satisfied with second but as fiscal conservatives we expect to get our money’s worth.
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3. Fueling the Tax Debate
While we usually avoid getting involved in squabbles between the other campaigns, we found the latest tax spat particularly interesting. The Giuliani camp is hitting Romney for raising the gas tax 2-cents for a “fund that pays for cleaning spills and underground leaks at local filling stations.” Cleaning up spills and leaks that could damage the environment? What is he, a Democrat?
(Of course, Giuliani could point out the apparent hypocrisy: “It reminds me of what it’s like talking to liberals in Massachusetts,” Romney said in the debate. “They have great reasons for taking taxpayer money and using it for things they think are the right thing to do.” …
Romney should prepare for a huge backlash. After finding the Democrat-controlled state legislature raised the gas tax 3-cents in order to fix the dilapidated Arkansas highways, the powerful Club for Growth got the vapors and attacked Gov. Hucakbee. I can just imagine what they’ll say about this massive tax increase. (Though is does seem rather odd that they hadn’t found this already and included it in their white paper on Romney.)
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4. Governor Huckabee knocks Matthew’s Hardball out of the park
Chris Matthews asks why faith is a “selling point for Mike Huckabee” and whether it would be appropriate for Joe Liebermann to portray himself as a “Jewish Leader.” Um, yes Chris, it would.
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5. Mourning Henry Hyde
Gov. Huckabee released the following statement:
“With the passing of Congressman Henry Hyde, America lost a great defender of human life. At least one million Americans are with us today because he championed the Hyde Amendment, the most significant and longstanding government restriction on abortion funding ever initiated. Congressman Hyde was a man of deep faith and unshakable conviction and I am deeply grateful for his example and good works. My prayers and condolences go out to the Hyde family and to the all those who mourn the loss of this great man.”
6. Tied for Second in NH
According to the latest Rasmussen Poll: “The new primary election poll shows a virtual three-way tie for second place between former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Senator John McCain at 15% and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee at 14%. For Giuliani and McCain, those figures are a very slight dip from earlier in the month while Huckabee has gained four more percentage points.”
Please moderate your expectations accordingly.
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