A Year in Iowa

Huckabee's race has only begun

Jan, 31, 2007

TIPTON, Iowa -- He has written a book called “Stop Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork.” So did Mike Huckabee see any irony in holding a presidential campaign stop in a downtown restaurant here Wednesday afternoon?

The former Arkansas governor politely laughed at my question, then emphatically replied “No.”

Of course, had the Stoplight Café been a greasy spoon, the question might have been an actual barb. But the food that the Republican’s campaign bought for a gathering of about 30 Tiptonians featured black bean and chicken noodle soup, cornbread, and apple pie. It all looked great.

Huckabee, 51, burdened his 5-foot-11 frame with over 280 pounds while governor. He was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and told to lose significant weight if he hoped to live more than another 10 years. He heeded the advice, shedding 110 pounds. He didn’t add an ounce at this event, opting not to eat. He typically packs his own meals for the day, and keeps them in a portable cooler. But his 25-year-old daughter, Sarah Huckabee, was persuaded to try a slice of the pie.

“It’s real food,’’ Sarah was assured by Mary Barnum, who owns the Stoplight (she said it’s located next to the only stoplight in Cedar County) with her husband, John Barnum. “It’s not processed.”

That might have been a set-up to ask if the same could be said for this event, whether it was real or just processed. But it seemed as genuine as these things probably get. No television cameras and their operators cluttered the restaurant during this stop between Huckabee’s campaign events in two of Iowa’s three largest metropolitan areas, Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities. So he had room for more relaxed one-on-one conversations. That was after he gave a stump speech and then took several serious questions from people of this town of about 3,200 people in a Q&A session. He isn’t a household name in this race, but the Iowa caucuses aren’t for another 11 ½ months. Which leads to another comparison to Huckabee’s personal life, this being one that he enjoys making.

Huckabee used to be out of breath and exhausted after climbing the long and steep steps of the Arkansas capitol building from the entrance up to the Governor's office. That was four marathons in the last year-and-a-half ago, the most recent last fall in New York City. Well, if he’s gotten himself into anything in this presidential campaign, it’s a marathon.

“I see a lot of similarities,” Huckabee said. “In fact, I’ve said that training for a marathon has taught me a lot about politics. The most important single thing is you can’t get spooked or worried if you think people are running in front of you and getting ahead early on. In fact, that’s great. You want them to get out there early and in front so you can run in their draft.

“Most of the time I’ve run marathons, the people that burst out of the gate often never get to the finish line. Because they’ve burned up their glycogen levels by Mile 17. So the key thing is to stay focused and disciplined, and you have to take the attitude ‘My pace, my race.’ ”

Then Huckabee, his daughter, and his staff got in automobiles and continued on their 2-day swing through several Iowa cities and towns. It’s only Mile 1 of this marathon.
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