SIMI VALLEY, California — Following the primetime segment of the second GOP presidential primary debate hosted by CNN, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s senior communications advisor Hogan Gidley said he thinks the Governor “crushed it” with what little time he was given.
“I think the Governor did an outstanding job. He got very little time; but with the time he did have, he absolutely crushed it. He hit on all the points that people care about,” Gidley told Breitbart News immediately after the debate.
In fact, out of the 11 candidates, Huckabee was in 10th place with talk time. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was the person to come in with the least amount of airtime, according to NPR.
“He was visionary, strong and presidential,” Gidley added of Huckabee’s performance.
Gidley isn’t the only one that thought Huckabee came across as “presidential.” In fact, Ed Rollins, Ronald Reagan’s campaign advisor, stated that he thought Huckabee was one of the candidates with a Reagan-style performance last night.
“I think that to a certain extent Mike Huckabee taps into it, he’s an excellent speaker,” Rollins stated on Fox News the morning after the debate when asked who embodied Reagan-ism.
Rollins also highlighted Carly Fiorina and Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) performances.
But Gidley wasn’t a fan of the debate’s organization.
“However, I was deeply concerned by the debates’ format and complete lack of substance that all too often played to the lowest common denominator,” Gidley added.
Gidley said there were a number of times that substantive debate was overtaken by “political theater.”
“The Governor stayed above the fray though and came across Presidential. He didn’t get bogged down in petty bickering about nonsense – he focused on Americans and that’s what matters.” Gidley explained. “The Governor has always been a rule respecter, and when they give you rules of the debate, he tries to respect them. That’s just who he is.”