Explaining how Iowa voters fit in to the 2012 presidential Republican nomination process is sometimes explained like an alien culture by some of the so-called media elite – that these are different people with values south of normal.
On Monday’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” on MSNBC, Huffington Post’s Howard Fineman explained why Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann would be a strong candidate in Iowa come January 2012. According to Fineman, Bachmann speaks to this culture, which he says include xenophobia.
“I think she can get pretty far,” Fineman said. “You know, her family’s from Iowa. On every point – she’s right on point with the evangelical Christians in those big mega-churches and the little churches in the rural areas. She speaks about the values. She speaks about abortion. She speaks about taxes. She speaks about fear of government. She speaks about xenophobia, sort of on a lot of issues.”
And as Fineman explained, Bachmann’s position on some issues will make it tough for a values candidate like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to win again, as he did in 2008.
“First of all – I think her presence is one of the reasons why – as [Sarah] Palin was before her – that Huckabee held back,” Fineman said. “That’s the first thing I would say. And the second thing is yes … now having covered it last time around, Huckabee got those people better than anybody did and he did it in a way that still might have allowed him to go elsewhere.”
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