If pollsters and trendspotters are correct, the American electorate is looking this year for something quite foreign to many if not most politicians: Genuineness.
According to veteran Democratic pollster Peter Hart, the attributes that are resonating with voters in the current Presidential campaign are "transparency, authenticity, and unity."
The Washington Post's David Broder identifies this trend as the fuel behind Mike Huckabee's rise to the top tier of Republican hopefuls despite the fact he had a barebones organization and very little money to work with this summer. As people have seen the former Arkansas Governor - and ordained Baptist minister - they have seen in him the qualities they are looking for in a candidate. I would add to that theory my belief that the reason Mitt Romney is sinking like a rock despite a huge organization on the ground and gobs of money to throw at ads is precisely the same thing. As potential voters have gotten to know more about Romney, they see him lacking - if not devoid - of those traits.
If you unpack those traits, you will see this is something new for the American voter. In fact, when you think about it, transparency, authenticity, and unity are about as connected to the normal political process as computers are to the Amish. The process tends to produce candidates who, in the words of Gov. Huckabee, come out looking like "a culmination of a room full of consultants." Think about how foreign to the political process these are: Transparency - what you see is who they are; Authenticity - what they say is what they believe (and presumably how they would govern if elected); and Unity - someone who could reach across the "Red State - Blue State" chasm and bring us together around shared values and objectives.
Is it any wonder that recent press and polling trends have moved toward Huckabee and Barack Obama, the two candidates who - for better of for worse - come across as authentic and not as political automatons spitting out trite campaign slogans and parsing words to avoid actually answering a question?
The Iowa Caucus is 38 days from now. It will be very interesting to watch how the polls trend over the next five weeks.
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