Politics

Comedy gives GOP candidates Huckabee, McCain an edge

So, a guy walks into a voting booth ... well, it might not be improv quality, but humor is helping the presidential hopefuls.

By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published January 24, 2008

FORT WALTON BEACH -- The startled crowd in this Panhandle community roared as John McCain casually introduced a lawyer friend there.

"By the way," the Arizona senator said Tuesday, "do you know the difference between a lawyer and a catfish? One is a scum-sucking bottom dweller. The other is a fish."

Ba-da-bing.

At South Carolina's Clemson University last week, Mike Huckabee introduced Chuck Norris and professional wrestling icon "Nature Boy" Ric Flair as his future secretary of defense and chief of homeland security.

"Or as they will be known in Washington," Huckabee said, "Smith & Wesson."

Then, he deadpanned: "If you don't vote for me, they take you out."

You may have heard the pundits speculate about a gender gap in this presidential election. What's really striking is the humor gap.

If yuks were votes in this wide open Republican primary, Huckabee and McCain would be leaving their rivals in the dust. Not that Rudy, Mitt and company are humorless, but a McCain or Huckabee campaign appearance tends to be like An Evening at the Improv.

"He's not the happiest boy today," Huckabee said in Michigan recently as a wailing baby disrupted a photo op. "I think he must be a Romney voter. Look at him. He's so sad."

In Pensacola Tuesday, McCain recounted for about the 10,000th time how somebody recently chastised him for complaining about Congress spending money like drunken sailors. "As a former drunken sailor," the guy said, "I resent being compared to the members of Congress."

McCain and Huckabee share a similar, mischievous style of wisecracking that makes them sought-after regulars on Comedy Central's fake news shows.

"The only reason I'm the front-runner now is because of the Colbert bump," Huckabee earnestly told the host of The Colbert Report after winning the Iowa caucuses. "If it were not for that I would not be sitting in this chair, I would be probably somewhere serving hamburgers at a drive-in restaurant."

Huckabee and McCain have a knack for using humor to disarm reporters, or at least evade pesky questions.

"Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office," Huckabee retorted at the CNN/YouTube debate, when Anderson Cooper pressed him about how Jesus would view the death penalty.

Jokes don't win elections, of course. But in an election cycle where voters crave authenticity, humor sure helps.

"Being funny fits under a bigger umbrella, which is the power of performance. We've had more exposure to the presidential candidates in the primary process than any other time in history, and the candidates have had ample opportunity to show not only what's on their cue cards but what's inside of them," said Adam Goodman, a Tampa-based Republican media consultant.

"The verdict in Florida," Goodman said, "can come down to who has the best moments of performance in the last few days, and we'll have a big test of that in Thursday's debate."

The Republicans are scheduled to debate at 9 tonight (Jan. 24) at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. MSNBC and PBS stations are televising it.

Huckabee's relaxed and funny debate performances helped him launch into the top tier with no money or campaign organization. Likewise, McCain resurrected his near-dead campaign with one town meeting after another, showing off with spontaneous and often strikingly blunt style.

"Thanks for the question, you little jerk," McCain, 71, responded to a young man in New Hampshire who asked if the Arizona senator was too old to be president. "You're drafted."

Then there was the assistant professor at Clemson who asked McCain if someone should be considered a terrorist for researching the events of 9/11.

"From the sneakers," McCain responded, "you're not a snappy dresser. ... That doesn't mean you're a terrorist. You terrorize the senses."

Huckabee was a regular on Don Imus' radio show and visited Jay Leno well before he became a presidential candidate. He's a rock 'n' roll-loving former Baptist preacher whose humor can seem anything but holy roller.

"You don't like people from outside the state coming in and telling you what to do with your flag," Huckabee said last when pressed about South Carolina's displaying the Confederate flag at the state Capitol. "In fact, if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we'd tell them what to do with the pole, that's what we'd do."

At his first campaign appearance in Florida this week, the affable ex-governor showed up late for a campaign appearance and chalked it up to a memorial for Martin Luther King Jr.

"It was supposed to be a two-hour service -- it lasted 3-3/4 hours. I would say former president Clinton spoke and that's why it lasted so long, but I really can't blame him," he said.

Then he warmed up with a crack about the weather: "It's kind of nice to not have to worry about snowshoes."

Better ramp it up, governor. You'll have to do much better than that if you want to win Florida.

Times staff writers Jennifer Liberto and David DeCamp contributed to this report, which included information from the Associated Press. Adam C. Smith can be reached at asmith@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8241.

[Last modified January 23, 2008, 19:57:47]