Political pundits are furiously analyzing the tactical repercussions to Mike Huckabee’s presidential aspirations after a nine foot alligator escaped from the Gov. Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
The American alligator, affectionately nicknamed “Shoes” by male staffers at the nature center – and “Purse” by the female staffers – apparently jumped a chain link fence and then slithered under a gate in a second fence. At least that’s what staffers hope after cautiously searching the grounds and peeking under the center’s main building, which sits up on stilts.
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission spokesman Keith Stephens, standing in the bed of his Game and Fish pickup truck, his eyes darting left and right, said he believes the alligator is now in the nearby swamps mingling with other alligators that live in the water. Then he quickly left the area, saying he had business elsewhere.
In spite of assurances by the nature center, many area grade schools have cancelled planned visits.
“It’s a bad sign for Huckabee’s chances in the presidential race,” said one longtime observer of Arkansas politics (who happens to be the author of this article). “In Arkansas, when the reptiles start jumping ship, well, your campaign is in trouble. You never saw gators leaping fences to escape the Gov. Bill Clinton Nature Center.”
– Written by J.P. Travis of JPAttitude.com
Sources: Reuters, Arkansas Times, Telegraph UK
