Huckabee keeps crowd laughing and rockin'

While Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama thrills his crowds with eloquent oration, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee pleases his supporters with humor and music.

He packed a ballroom at the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason Tuesday afternoon. Organizers said they had to expand the room to a 500-person capacity in order to fit the expected crowd.

Huckabee took a bass guitar and jammed with the band to Born to be Wild, then joked that at his age it should be called “Born to be Mild.”

He cracked jokes throughout the rally. At one point he said he’d considered going down the water slides at the indoor water park in his suit. Then the national media can’t pretend he doesn’t exist, he cracked.

He’s way behind the expected GOP nominee, John McCain but said he won’t bow out until McCain seals the nomination. That could happen Tuesday when Ohio and Texas go to the polls.

When Huckabee talked about throwing out the tax code, he put it like this: “We say in the south if we can’t fix it with duct tape and WD-40, it can’t be fixed. Our tax code can’t be fixed,” he said. “I say, let’s get rid of the current tax code and let me be the one that nails the ‘Going out of Business sign on the doors of the IRS.”

He later told the press that getting rid of the tax code is about as realistic as putting a man on the moon or building the atomic bomb. Difficult, but something that can be done if the American people decide that’s what they want to do.

Renee Galvis, 36, of Sunman, Ind., brought her mother-in-law who is visiting from Columbia and three children ages 2, 3, and 6 to see Huckabee. Son Niko, 6, was on sign duty, holding up a blue and white Huckabee sign.

“I attended the same seminary as he did. His platform, pro-life, is huge. That’s No. 1 for me,” Galvis explained. “The Fair Tax is also huge. Just the fact that people have a choice and we have the opportunity to have our voice heard.”

She was thinking about going up to Columbus, where he held a rally earlier in the day. She was happy when she heard he was coming here.

Barbara Wilson, 61, of Dayton and Bonnie Grooms, 59, of Springboro, held up “Fair Tax” signs, sported similar hats and T-shirts and buttons that said “I like Mike.”

“(The Fair Tax) is the biggest selling point for me,” Wilson said. Other selling points: “He’s a conservative. He’s the only true conservative running,” she said. She said the Fair Tax has a bad rap because people don’t really understand it. “It’d be the best thing that could happen to the country.”

(For more about the Fair Tax, visit www.fairtax.org.)

If Huckabee drops out, the pair said they’d support McCain over a Democrat.

“As long as it’s not a Democrat," Wilson said.