Posted on 01/03/2008 10:15:51 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Evangelical Republicans in Iowa chose one of their own in Mike Huckabee.
"Wherever it ends — and we know where that's going to be — it started here in Iowa," the emboldened candidate proclaimed as he promised more victories in states to come.
But the looming question is whether the Southern Baptist minister turned decade-long Arkansas governor is strong enough to triumph outside friendly Iowa territory, and go the distance to the nomination.
That test begins immediately as Huckabee turns to New Hampshire, where he will run head-on into town meetings full of secular voters, and John McCain, the Arizona senator who has pinned his second White House bid on the state he won in 2000.
New Hampshire holds the nation's first primary in just five days, and Huckabee also will face a rematch there with Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who desperately needs a victory in neighboring New Hampshire to prove his candidacy isn't crippled after an Iowa defeat.
Huckabee's improbable rise from underdog to leader upended the GOP race in the final weeks of the Iowa campaign. His ascent — like his ultimate triumph — was fueled by Christian conservatives who spent a year searching for a candidate to embrace before settling on Huckabee.
He made his religious beliefs and his rock-solid opposition to abortion, gay marriage and gun control central parts of his campaign — and it paid off. Romney, for his part, struggled to overcome skepticism about his Mormon faith and his shifts on positions on issues that cultural and religious conservatives hold dear.
"Values voters spoke loudly tonight in Iowa through Governor Huckabee's candidacy," said Greg Mueller, a GOP strategist and former aide to past conservative presidential candidates Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes. "But his success was also due to his appeal as an authentic and genuine candidate that connected with middle America."
"Now, he's got to use that bully pulpit to broaden his populist appeal in New Hampshire," Mueller added.
In a poll conducted for The Associated Press of voters entering Iowa's caucuses, Huckabee voters indicated values outranked electability in importance. Six in 10 of his backers said the most important quality in picking a candidate was someone who shared their values, while a third of his supporters said he says what he believes. Fewer than one in 20 said they thought he had the best chance of winning in November.
Faith was a determining factor for many Republican caucus participants.
A significant chunk of Huckabee supporters — eight in 10 — said they are born again or evangelical Christians, compared to less than half of Romney's backers. Nearly two-thirds of Huckabee voters also said it was very important that their candidate share their religious beliefs, compared to about one in five of Romney's.
After a year of tumult, the Iowa race amounted to a classic David vs. Goliath battle, with a pair of former governors in a high-stakes slugfest for the coveted prize.
Huckabee appealed to the emotions of Iowa Republicans, with an I'm-like-you pitch and an emphasis on Christianity. Romney was the practical pick, an accomplished businessman with a powerhouse organization and a seemingly endless supply of money to go the distance.
McCain and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson were in a tight race for third place, both seeking the bronze medal to claim the start of a comeback. Ron Paul, the long-shot Texas congressman with an anti-war, libertarian bent, captured more votes than Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who comfortably led in national polls for the better part of a year.
Iowa had the first say in the most volatile, wide-open GOP nomination race in a half-century, and the state's recent history bodes well for the caucus winner. It has chosen the Republican who eventually secured the nomination in the two most recent contested GOP competitions — George W. Bush in 2000 and Bob Dole in 1996.
But unlike those races, there is no establishment candidate this time. Conservatives spent much of the past year restless; they found flaws in each of the many candidates in the remarkably crowded GOP field.
Huckabee trailed his better-known rivals in money, manpower and polls all year before a surprise autumn surge vaulted him from the back of the crowded pack of candidates to the front. With a bare-bones campaign and modest fundraising, he bet his stellar communication skills and likablity would carry him to a win.
Romney, a self-made multimillionaire who poured more than $17 million into his presidential bid, sunk $7 million into Iowa advertising to emerge as the caucus leader for months. He pinned his hopes on his organizational strength and financial advantage.
In the end, the race for the gold medal in Iowa boiled down to message vs. money — and message won.
Ditto!
Speak for yourself. Huckabee isn't getting my vote because he's too wimpy for the job.
Does that include what the Bible says about Divorce (Malachi 2:16;Matthew 5:32; Matthew 19)? It also used to be restricted and illegal except under certain circumstances.
You cannot defend only one piece of it.
I am speaking in generalities, of course. It is "the Christians", the Evangelicals, who have lifted Huckabee up, and the only obvious reason for doing so is his "social conservative" position.
As a matter of disclosure, I cannot vote for Huckabee. While his faith is fine with me, the rest of his platform sucks.
I too vote "Christian first", but I am content to support Hunter, as most of my fellows undoubtedly would if they could see him at all... He fulfills my need of a practicing Christian, and is also as Conservative as the day is long.
The term word in the original refers to preaching, which is what Huckabee abandoned to become a politician, He abandoned it because he thought he could do more for Christ by becoming a politician, which is to say he despised his calling as a preacher as "foolishness."
IGNORANT!
Reagan made a deal with a Dem congress to grant amnesty to a few million in exchange for closing the border. He did not, as Huckabee did, say, “ya’ll come, illegals, and I’ll make you eligible for social programs and call Americans who don’t want to pay your bills unChristian. You can have drivers’ licenses and don’t need to show ID at the polls either!”
Reagan got screwed on his deal, because the amnesty was granted and then Congress reneged on the border, as they are doing now. If Republicans don’t learn from it, we are doomed to the trash heap of history.
Huckabee now says he’s against amnesty. Riiight. Pull the other one, Huck. That’s the same platform that Bush ran on, BTW. Which is why Bush’s amnesty plan was called Comprehensive Immigration Reform. I wonder what Huckabee will call his amnesty plan, Christian Immigration Reform?
You have a lot of company. According to the exit polls, only 50% of self-identified evangelical Christians in Iowa voted for Huckabee. He’s going to have a tough time, if the vaunted Christian leader can’t pull more than half of the evangelical vote.
I don't blindly support anybody. That amnesty deal was horrible - a huge mistake.
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