Presidential Hopeful Frater Mike Huckabee Wins Iowa Caucus

DES MOINES, Iowa - While you were sleeping, Republican Frater Mike Huckabee (Beta-Psi, Arkansas State University) and Democrat Barack Obama achieved resounding victories in the Iowa presidential caucuses. The next stop on the campaign trail is New Hampshire, where primary voters are scheduled to go to the polls on January 8.

Frater Mike's shoe-string inspiration trumped Mitt Romney's multi-million-dollar organization in the Iowa Republican presidential caucus Thursday night and Barack Obama benefited from a record turnout of first-time caucus-goers demanding fundamental changes in the way politics is played in America.

For both Frater Huckabee and Obama, the real prize from Thursday night is valuable momentum and at least a temporary claim to the front-runner's position in their parties' presidential contests.

Chip Saltsman, chairman of the Huckabee campaign, noted that Romney outspent Huckabee, 20-1. But in the end, "message matters more than money," Saltsman added.

Romney spokesman Sarah Pompei said the Iowa caucus is "only the beginning of the campaign" and pointed to Romney's strength in upcoming primaries. But for Romney, who invested a lot of time and money, his second place finish in Iowa was clearly a setback.

"I think this is an opportunity to show the American dream is still alive and there's hope and optimism that can be awakened in a lot of people's lives if they think that a person like me can run and actually become president," Huckabee told The Associated Press.

Frater Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas, was the only second-tier candidate of either party to emerge from the back of the pack to join the front-runners. Now he must show that he's more than a one-state wonder and he will try to do this at the next Presidential caucus in New Hampshire January 8th.

The 51-year-old Huckabee, who took over as governor at the height of Bill Clinton's Whitewater scandal, comes from the same small town - Hope - in the same rural state as the former Democratic president.

Learn more about Frater Mike Huckabee by clicking here.

What the News Outlets Say about Frater Huckabee

Obama and Huckabee are the new front-runners, CNN says. The Wall Street Journal says their triumph shows that voters are eager for changes in Washington. "Both victories represent the triumph of insurgent candidates over more established rivals," NPR reports.

The Washington Post looks at Huckabee and sees challenges ahead, especially in the Granite State, where the former Arkansas governor has "little support in the polls and only a ragtag organization to mount a second come-from-behind victory. To succeed, he will have to broaden his message, which has largely been designed to appeal to the Christian conservatives who helped him win Thursday night."

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