Mike Huckabee doesn't advertise. The television absorbs his magnetism automatically ... and this, famously, is the result.
[T]his is Huckabee's first ad in Iowa, and it seems strangely conceived. Chuck Norris facts are very well known amongst plugged-in hipsters who read Gawker. They are not very well known, I'd guess, among Iowans. If this were a web-only ad meant to get the campaign some YouTube pick-up, it would be very well-designed. As an introduction to Iowans? I think it'll confuse more than it will convert.
I'm not sure that's true. After all, the Chuck Norris facts aren't just hilarious. As a collection, they create a joke that's very, very simple. (Chuck Norris doesn't sneeze. The germs flee in terror from his body ... . Get it?) And they're about a guy - to wit, Chuck Norris - who's been well known for decades as an evangelical right wing butt kicker and one of America's least-accomplished but best-recognized actors. Having flown over states like Iowa dozens of times en route from one coast to another, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Republican Iowans know Chuck, fear Chuck, like Chuck, and will respond well to the ad whether or not they're privy to the underlying meme.
