Two plausible responses from readers:
Jonah, I enjoy the Corner but. . . You folks in the media keep missing the key to Huckabee’s victory (it was present already in Straw Poll). It’s not that Central Iowa is home to key television stations. It’s that Central Iowa is home to the large evangelical mega churches at which Huckabee has appeared and where he has been preaching for the past year. I was at a caucus on the borders. Mitt didn’t win our county (Sioux) In our caucus he came in third (behind Huckabee and McCain). We don’t share a media market with Central Iowa. In fact ours is heavily South Dakota dominated. But what we share with Central Iowa is a “heavy” (understatement) concentration of evangelical Christians. The Huckabee “Campaign” didn’t even have someone lined up to speak on his behalf at this caucus of about 600 people. They didn’t need to. Evangelicals turned out and voted simply because their informal networks of people that they trusted decided they trusted Huckabee. Last night was truly a “grass roots” event. Whether it can be replicated across the nation will be the interesting question.
And:
Jonah, the answer is not TV – it’s radio. WHO am radio is a bastion of Iowa and has been for 80 years. Reagan broadcast here, for heavan’s sake! Anyway, there is a very popular drive-time show on WHO with a guy named Steve Deace, who has been lauding Huckabee and ripping Romney for the last two months, nearly every day. I think this is the biggest factor behind the Huckabee Iowa surge. This guy is a big deal in Iowa, and big in the Evangelical movement here. Just thought I’d offer my 2 cents. Thanks!