My colleague Prof. Blanchard below writes about the possibility of a successful Mike Huckabee campaign. People have started criticizing Huckabee's economic record and claiming that he's a populist liberal like Bill Clinton. The criticism is based on his tax issue, which John Fund discussed last Friday when he declared Huckabee was no fiscal conservative.
Fund reports that Huckabee raised some taxes and dramatically increased state government spending. Lucas Roebuck responds to John Fund's article, Joe Carter at the Evangelical Outpost defends Huckabee's economic record, and Huckabee himself has said he pushed a large tax cut through a Democrat-controlled legislature, indexed the state income tax, and eliminated the capital gains tax on home sales. I think Fund misses the context of the story. He may have raised taxes, and if the tax structure he inherited as governor and the condition of roads, schools, and other infrastructure were weak, as Roebuck contends, it may have demanded he do so to fund improvements. Huckabee isn't the strongest economic conservative compared to his GOP rivals, but fiscal conservatives shouldn't give up on the man. He supports a balanced budget, the presidential line-item veto, the elimination of earmarks, and a flat tax. I respect Huckabee and I like the guy, but I don't know that he has enough behind him to make a serious presidential run. In any event, the criticism leveled at him for his fiscal conservatism seems misplaced.
Might I suggest another addition to Prof. Blanchard's campaign literature? We Like Mike! [Update: Just for fun, here's a list of political slogans.]
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