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Political Notebook: 'Huckabee' outpaces other cable shows Sunday, Oct 5, 2008 By Aaron Sadler Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - "Huckabee" was a hit, sort of. Mike Huckabee's debut as a television talk show host last weekend drew more viewers than three other cable news networks combined. The series premiere of "Huckabee" on the Fox News Channel brought in about 2.01 million viewers, according to Nielsen Co. ratings. That's more than the viewership of CNN, CNBC and MSNBC put together for the 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday time slot. According to Nielsen, Huckabee beat out Roland Martin on CNN, a showing of "Apprentice UK" on CNBC and an MSNBC special. But it predictably was clobbered by football. The highest-rated cable show at that time was ESPN's showing of the Alabama-Georgia game. About 6.6 million people tuned in. The hour-long show was Huckabee's first as a host after a few months as commentator on Fox News shows. The cable network snatched up the former Arkansas governor after his unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination this year. Huckabee's show featured an interview with Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a co-host of the daytime show, "The View." A panel of guests discussed the economy and then Huckabee kicked it on bass guitar with his house band, the "Little Rockers." A repeat of Saturday's show at the same time Sunday drew 1.77 million viewers, still ahead of the three other networks at that time. "Huckabee" fared better in the Saturday time slot than any other Fox News show in September, save for "Gov. Palin: American Woman," which aired two days after the Republican National Convention. Beebe's priorities Gov. Mike Beebe said last week he refused to cancel plans to campaign with a state legislator in favor of a political event with Hillary Clinton. Rep. Steve Breedlove, D-Greenwood, should be happy to know his re-election ranks high on Beebe's list of priorities. Democratic Party officials accommodated Beebe's schedule when he told them he couldn't make Hillary Clinton's rally in Little Rock on behalf of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. "They had it scheduled at a time that I'd already committed to a Democratic state representative to be at a fundraiser for him in the western part of the state, actually Breedlove," Beebe said. "I said I can't back out on that, so they moved it to a later evening event where I could be there." The Hillary Clinton rally is Friday, probably at 5 p.m. at the state Capitol. Breedlove faces Republican John Van Gorder in the Nov. 4 election. David Pryor reappointed The Senate on Thursday confirmed former Sen. David Pryor's reappointment to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting board. Pryor was confirmed by many of his former colleagues, as well as by his son, Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark. The elder Pryor was initially appointed by President Bush in 2006 to the board that oversees the Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio. He was first appointed to the board two years ago on the recommendation of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. John Lyon of the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock contributed to this report. |
