Candidate Huckabee: Mastering the New Format

Let’s admit it, the YouTube debates are a strange experience. I find myself on edge, worried as the candidates take questions from snowmen, people hugging guns or wearing strange costumes. Why? Because the questioners tend to be more hostile, more hostile than a moderator would be and more hostile than a hostile audience member who is looking the candidate in the eye.

I was surprised at how well the Republican hopefuls faced down this challenge at the CNN/YouTube debate the other night. But there were moments — Mitt Romney’s answer to a question about what the GOP will do about the other war of black-on-black crime crystallized the Anything Goes South nature of this format. In fact, Romney was tense a lot; so was Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), so was Fred Thompson, so was Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.). But an article in The Guardian, about a Democratic consultant’s take of the debate, described well how comfortable Mike Huckabee is in such a setting, and declared him the clear winner.

Julia Piscitelli, who has consulted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and other Democratic members of Congress and senators, was watching body language, fashion and other cues that influence “the way viewers take in candidates’ words,” said the Guardian story. Piscitelli noted Huckabee successfully, gently corrected a questioner before answering. “He’s telling someone she’s wrong and it doesn’t sound like an affront,” she said. “It sounds like a mild correction. Now we’re ready to listen to what the correction is. He makes us ready to listen.” Piscitelli also noted Huckabee’s rhetorical style, that he paces his answers with “pregnant pauses,” which help the audience digest what he is saying. “His face is very open, his eyes are open, he’s being very thoughtful and compassionate. He’s answering with understanding.”

I think Huckabee stole the show that night, even without his wonderful line about Jesus being too smart to have considered running for public office. I know style doesn’t win you the nomination, but I bet the YouTube debate picked Huckabee up a lot more votes, and his story — in the wide-open GOP presidential primary — is far from over.

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