"Almost Falling In The Aisles" by P.T. Huckabee

Orange you glad your editor gave you the Big Mike assignment, as opposed to, say, a ride on the Thompson wagon?

The CW might be that the media loves McCain (link), but this pic reinforces (as did the hunting gig; the shaving gig; the Leno gig; and the ad-pulling gig) how much the Huckster  -- the P.T. Barnum of Campaign '08 -- has them looking not at him, per se, but at the latest role -- err, roll.

The Real Deal by digby
Pictures of the Day, Jan. 4  (NYT Slide Show)
Your Turn: Displaying An Edge (BNN)

(image: Todd Heisler/The New York Times.  January 4, 2007.  nytimes.com)

Comments

[Thirdeye Pushpin]

Is that the Huckster's face eclipsing a white woman and a black man's in this image...saying he is ahead of them? At least when viewed from behind looking backwards.

[steve talbert]

My impression of the pictures on Huck are that they make him seem like a fool. It might also be his name.. like a carnival Huckster. I wonder if the pictures would seem the same way if his name was Shaw or Packer.

I have never met him and try not to listen to him on TV, but I have seen him on Stephen Colbert - he seems like he has a personality that he would be telling jokes all the time, so maybe the photographers loosen up a bit more around him and take pictures that are more funny looking (humorous side) than, say, when with Hillary.

From what I read about the cold reaction to her in Iowa, I wouldn't put it past them that there is a game to see who can get the worst picture of her.

[g]

Isn't this orange rolling game something that George Bush liked to play with them, too?

[arty]

Orange rolling was described in Tim Crouse's "The Boys on the Bus," about the 1972 campaign, 36 years ago.

If he keeps at it, the idea of gravity might dawn on Huckabee, and then it's just a short hop to believing in evolution.

[cynthia ackerman]

Note, as well, the fulsome roots of Mrs Charles Norris directly behind the Candidate. Hmm.

If Huckabee is PT Barnum, it's largely because editors overseeing those suckers on the bus with him (or in the barber shop, or watching him hunt, or looking for eye-candy during his acceptance speech in Iowa ... ) are primed to play along with his kind of schtick. Thank you, Michael, for your take on Huck's photo ops. He's no showman, though. He's an opportunist. His rubes are the real story.

Cynthia Ackerman, Portland, OR