Deal Hudson: "Huckabee Can't Win a National Election"

Deal Hudson writes at InsideCatholic:

... I agree that Huckabee is the most pro-life of the candidates, but, after watching him campaign over the past few weeks, I don't think he can win a national election. Why? Because he's not ready. He's going to have to overcome his own regional limitations -- he must learn to tone down his preacherly mannerisms that come out in his rhetorical -- "gates of hell" -- flourishes. If Huckabee were to become the GOP nominee there would be a serious backlash against a Religious Right candidate whose style, not necessarily his message, are a huge "turn off" to a whole lot of folks.

My Comments:
As I mentioned in my post about McCain below, I think it's too early to make any such determination about which GOP candidates can and cannot "win a national election". But I suppose the primaries are going on and folks must make such determinations in their own minds about which candidate has the best chance to win. But I'm still willing to wait and see (especially since I don't have to vote yet).

That, and the fact that I'm compelled by other priorities than just finding the most electable nominee.


UPDATE
Paul Zummo disagrees with Hudson's take in the comments to this post:

As I've said countless times before, Huckabee is my least favorite guy, but Hudson is wrong. For better or worse, Huckabee would likely be a very strong general election candidate. His mix of social conservatism and economic populism is pretty much where the median voter is, and when you add his charisma and speaking ability, he would be tough to beat.