Is Mike Huckabee, Current Presidential Front Runner, The Next Dr Phil?

Last night while you were watching reruns or really bad game shows on network TV, Britney Spears was hospitalized and suprisingly (to me at least) Mike Huckabee won in Iowa. And you thought I would I only cared about pop culture? Shame on you. As a former Political Science minor, I analyzed the past presidential election down to a T. But did you know that the new Republican Front-Runner for the Presidential election is also a diet expert? Well, not really but he did lose 100+ lbs and wrote a book about it.


Since I'm sick of hearing about B.Spears I'm going to tell you a little about this baptist preacher turned politician who is the former Arkansas Governor. In 2003, he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and lost over 100 lbs in the next year. In 2005 he wrote, "Quit Digging Your Grave With A Knife And Fork" which is a 12-Stop Program to End Bad Habits and Begin a Healthy Lifestyle. Far from the typical diet book, it's target audience is towards middle-aged obese men. Here are the 12 steps.
1. STOP Procrastinating.
2. STOP Making Excuses.
3. STOP Sitting on the Couch.
4. STOP Ignoring Signals from Your Body.
5. STOP Listening to Destructive Criticism.
6. STOP Expecting Immediate Success.
7. STOP Whining.
8. STOP Making Exceptions.
9. STOP Storing Provisions for Failure.
10. STOP Fueling with Contaminated Food.
11. STOP Allowing Food to Be A Reward.
12. STOP Neglecting Your Spiritual Health.

In his own words Huckabee says,

"My faith is my life -- it defines me. My faith doesn't influence my decisions, it drives them. ... Real faith makes us humble and mindful, not of the faults of others, but of our own."

I love to cause controversy among celebrities and their wacky diets/habits/actions, but for this blog I am going to stay away from the politics because that is one topic I have learned to agree to disagree. So anyway, could our next president be the another Dr Phil? The Boston Herald (which obvs is biased towards this man given his views and where he comes from) calls him a "Baptist preacher-turned-hayseed politician". I didn't know what hayseed meant, so I looked up some synonyms and found that it means hick or redneck. Could this also mean that if elected, there will be greater restrictions on trans-fats, school lunches, and other efforts towards a healthier and less obese America? Is this on anyone's platform? Has anyone read this book?

I had never heard of Huckabee (who won with 34% of voters) until recently, and so now I am quite suprised that he beat out Mitt Romney (lost with 25% of voters) who spent the most $$ by far compared with all the other candidates. Romney repotedly outspent Huckabee by tens of millions of dollars. And oh yeah, Obama beat Hilary. Can Bill Clinton run again?

AND lastly, will the writers strike hurt campaign dollars spent on television advertising? I know I have been watching a lot less without the new episodes. This is an interesting concept that hasn't really been touched upon. Hollywood LOVES to campaign for candidates, mostly democrats except Boston Red Sox Pitcher Curt Schilling who's rooting for Mitt.

Anywhoooo, Happy Friday ya'll!