Charismatic pol gets ovation, but GOPer Huckabee a hit, too

THE ROCK STAR of Democratic presidential candidates, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, made his appearance yesterday before 9,000 delegates at the National Education Association convention, as did a long-winded local favorite, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.

But a surprise hit was the only Republican anybody remembers coming to address the union's convention - former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

"There's a perception that NEA is going to automatically be for a Democrat. I understand that," Huckabee told reporters after getting a standing ovation.

"But I found the best way I could overcome the sort of de facto vote is to go after it," Huckabee said. "I got 49 percent of the African-American vote in my election for governor in 1998. Find another Republican who's done that."

The warm reaction to Huckabee was rooted in part in the novelty of a Republican paying his respects.

But he also hit some resonant notes by talking about the value of art and music in curriculum, the burdensome paperwork teachers face and his pride in sending all three of his children to public schools, "kindergarten through the 12th grade."

And Huckabee had one beautifully crafted line to set him apart from other Republicans who obsess on national security.

"If indeed an uneducated population is a form of terror we cannot possibly tolerate," Huckabee said, "then today I would like to propose that we would unleash weapons of mass instruction."

He didn't follow with a detailed plan or billions in proposed spending, but the crowd loved it.

Still, the most enthusiastic response of the convention came for Obama, whose speech was greeted by scores of delegates' crouching in aisles with cameras for the occasion.

Obama's speech was a love song to teachers, praising their commitment and sacrifice, and condemning the Bush administration for "abandoning" public education after passage of the No Child Left Behind law.

Obama said that, as president, he would make teachers feel appreciated.

"In the coming weeks, I'll be laying out the specific details of my plan to invest billions of new dollars into the teaching profession and recruit an army of well-trained and well-qualified teachers," Obama said.

He promised more money for early-childhood education and teacher-mentoring programs, and extra pay for challenging teaching assignments.

And he cautiously endorsed the notion of merit pay for teachers, a sore subject for many union members, but assured them, "I'm not going to do this to you; I'm going to do this with you."

Meanwhile, Biden offered his plan to make public education the top domestic priority in a Biden administration.

In a spirited and folksy speech, Biden one-upped New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's pledge to appoint a teacher as secretary of education by saying he'd see to it that a teacher would be living in the White House with the president, a reference to Biden's wife, Jill, an English teacher originally from Willow Grove.

After sharply criticizing President Bush's handling of the Iraq war, Biden said that with the money spent there, he could fund a broad education program including early education for pre-K children, higher teacher salaries and smaller class size.

Teachers in the United Kingdon are forgiven their college debts if they teach a certain number of years, and in Japan they have starting salaries similar to entry-level engineers, he asserted. In a Biden administration, "you will be cherished. You will not be chastised."

And he said that American society has to spend more to help high-school grads afford a college education. With college often costing $42,000 per year, students can't work their way through college. "You gotta be selling drugs or something to work your way through," Biden said to big applause. *