Mike Huckabee Challenges Rush Limbaugh With New Radio Show
Mike Huckabee wants to challenge Rush Limbaugh's post as the most popular conservative radio broadcaster in America by starting his own radio show, which debuts on Monday.
Trying to paint himself as a more restrained conservative commentator he explained his plan.
"I'm going to treat every guest with respect and civility. Nobody is going to come on and get into a shouting match with me. That's just not my style," Huckabee told Politico.
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Huckabee's new radio show will take the popular three-hour spot airing from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and will be carried on nearly 200 stations nationwide. It will be hard, considering the king of syndicated broadcast radio Rush Limbaugh's show airs during the same time slot.
Even with all the controversies surrounding Limbaugh, he is currently broadcast on more than 600 stations throughout the nation and is heard by about 20 million people every week, making him the most listened to radio personality in the country.
But with Huckabee's soft-spoken and mild mannered nature, some political strategists predict that he will gain audiences outside of conservative circles with his new style dubbed "conservatism with a smile."
"[Rush] is a polarizing figure in the larger culture. [Huckabee] is conservatism with a smile, which is a big difference in a party where the message is so often delivered angrily," said Steve Schmidt, former aide for John McCain.
However it might be too much for Huckabee to overcome, considering he still has to wait four years before attempting to run for president.
"Mike Huckabee is ready to be president of the United States," Schmidt said.
But Schmidt conceded that it may be premature to have a radio show to maintain a public presence adding, "it's like the old saying, 'Don't go buy a corsage if you haven't been invited to the prom yet'," Schmidt said.
