Utah's Mormons loathe Huckabee

Politico ^ | 2/04/2008 | Richard T. Cullen

[JRochelle]

Of all the possible Super Tuesday outcomes, one is more certain than any other: Mike Huckabee will not carry the state of Utah.

In large part it’s because Mitt Romney, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the man credited with saving the Salt Lake City Olympics, is more popular here than in any other state.

But the other reason is that overwhelmingly Mormon Utah has taken a profound dislike to the Southern Baptist preacher best known for his nice-guy persona.

The wellspring of Huckabee hate is a now-famous Dec. 16 New York Times Magazine interview in which the former Arkansas governor, in an “innocent voice,” is reported to have asked, “Don’t Mormons ... believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”

To Mormons, Huckabee’s eyebrow-raising question represented not only a gross distortion of their beliefs but also a carefully calculated move by a Christian politician who surely knew better.

Huckabee’s remark prompted Romney to call the comments “just not the American way” on NBC’s “Today” show.

Huckabee quickly apologized, saying that Romney’s Mormonism had nothing to do with whether he should be president. With that, the candidates and the national media moved on to other topics.

In Utah, however, all was not forgiven.

“There is a feeling that Huckabee has exploited a lot of the anti-Mormon sentiment,” said LaVarr Webb, a political consultant and publisher in Utah.

“The feeling is that he would certainly know the answers to these questions that he’s been asking sometimes,” said Chuck Gates, assistant managing editor of Utah’s Deseret Morning News.

According to Webb and other state political insiders interviewed by Politico, many Mormons maintain that Huckabee’s apology did not go nearly far enough.

Quin Monson, assistant director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University, says many observers believe that “evangelicals have rejected Romney, and that Huckabee is aiding and abetting that. ... He’s egging it on.”

As it turns out, this isn’t the first time that Huckabee has rubbed Utahans the wrong way. In the summer of 1998, then-Arkansas Gov. Huckabee, along with fellow national church leaders, attended the National Southern Baptist Convention in Salt Lake City.

At the time, the decision to hold the event in the shadow of the Mormon Tabernacle was viewed by many Mormons as an insulting stab directed at the very heart of the LDS church.

Worse, according to an account published in the Salt Lake Tribune during the convention, some 2,000 “messengers” of the Southern Baptist Convention went door to door in Utah and proselytized, “armed with questionnaires and their personal belief in Jesus Christ as their savior.”

Because of his participation in that convention and because of his theological background, many Utahans believe that Huckabee has been deeply disingenuous throughout the campaign — not just in one well-publicized interview — in his approach toward the issue of Romney’s Mormon faith.

The Huckabee campaign did not respond to e-mail and phone requests for comment.

The Baptists’ choice of Salt Lake City was a deliberate one, said James Guth, a leading authority on the influence of religion in politics and professor at Furman University.

The Baptists intended to “create a new mission field.” Mormons and the Southern Baptists, he explained, are members of “competing missionary religions.”

“It used to be that the Mormons were in Utah and Southern Baptists were in the South,” Guth said. “Now, Mormons are all over the world, and Southern Baptists want to be all over the world.”

Aside from the issue of clashing faiths, there is a more practical component to Huckabee’s unpopularity.

There is a widespread belief, not just in Utah but among many Romney partisans, that Huckabee’s long-shot — and lingering — candidacy is serving little purpose other than to siphon votes from Romney, Utah’s adopted son, by splitting the conservative vote against John McCain.

“There’s just the feeling that if we really wanted to unite behind a conservative candidate, we would unite behind Romney,” said Dave Hansen, former campaign manager for Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah).

“You can’t force [Huckabee] out, but all things considered, I think there are a lot of conservatives who wish he were not still in the race.”

In the unlikely event that Huckabee does capture the Republican nomination, his Utah baggage could come back to haunt him.

In the deeply red state where President Bush still maintains some of his highest approval ratings, a place that has ranked as the most Republican state in the nation in six of the past eight presidential elections, a BYU poll released Monday reveals that Huckabee would pull off the seemingly impossible.

As GOP nominee, he would lose the state of Utah in a hypothetical matchup with Democrat Barack Obama, 58 percent to 42 percent.

Romney, by contrast, would defeat Obama 69 percent to 31 percent. McCain would also win against Obama, though by a more modest 55 percent to 45 percent.

Still, there are limits to how much Utah dislikes Huckabee: In a head-to-head matchup with Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, Huckabee wins handily, 60 percent to 41 percent.

[muawiyah]

Everybody has read all about it. Frankly, I prefer God-fearing American boys and men carrying their guns onto airplanes.

Don't you?!

Been a lot less trouble with Americans than there has been with Middle Eastern Islamofascists! You can't trust those badboys with a pocketknife.

[Moral Hazard]

“Of course it is. Huck’s being in the there keeps McCain from walking away with the South, which would probably happen otherwise and would pretty much assure Mr. Amnesty the victory.”

There’s something to be said for that. Whoever he takes votes from, and despite his being a terrible candidate who would make a terrible president, by splitting the votes and taking delegates he opens the possibility of a brokered convention, where a good candidate might actually be chosen instead of one of the 4 we have left.

[lookout88]

That kind of behavior is disgusting. What kind of parent would raise a kid to do that? You know better yourself.

[egginanest]

“Utah has taken a profound dislike to the Southern Baptist preacher”

Same here.

[muawiyah]

It's long overdue for a brokered convention. This antique 1920s Reformers Ideal of having the people vote for these yahoos months before we need a candidate is ridiculous.

It's time to make the parties responsible for what they do by eliminating CFR AND the primary election system.

These selections should be in smokefilled convention centers by professional politicians who then duke it out in a Fall campaign for 6 weeks or so.

[ari-freedom]

if I lived in Israel, which is a Jewish state, no.

But I accept that the US is not a Jewish state. the bottom line is this: are they pro-life, pro-gun and not pro-gay?

Bloomberg. He’s Jewish. I would not support him for president if he decided to run. Why? Because like Romney, he is not pro-life or pro-gun and very much supportive of promoting gays.

[PhilipFreneau]

>>>SOunds like you are preparing to preach your own version of the Gospels. Why should we listen to you?<<<

Are you implying I have a version of the Gospels contrary to the Huckster’s version where he pushes the false doctrine that Charity begins with the Government robbing (”rich”) Peter to pay (”poor”) Paul? As a matter of fact, I do.

[muawiyah]

No, I don't. Having been a Scout Leader here and there over the years I assure you that kids go out in the woods and do the darnedest things ~ particularly with fire.

Boy Scouts do learn about fire.

Dog hanging is not part of the program of course, but the kid did it, and he was a minor, so get over it.

[Nonstatist]

I recently read a column about how Mormons are to Christians what Jews for Jesus are to Jews.

Inept analogy, at best. Mormons prosletyze, but so do Christians. Jews dont prosletyze, and Jews for Jesus prosletyze only Jews.

[muawiyah]

Go to it. On the other hand I haven’t heard The Huck say you should take it out of the public’s hide at the point of a gun either.

[Eric Blair 2084]

I’m not a Mormon and I’ve never even been to Utah. I loathe Huckabee’s left wing politics.

Nothing personal. I don’t hate him. I don’t know him. I’m sure he’s a nice guy.

I just don’t like liberals.

[Rennes Templar]

“I’m a Utah Mormon and I like both Huckabee, but more I like McCain and Gulliani.”

Regardless of whom you vote for, work on that grammar ;>)

[broncobilly]

Actually, that is not true.

[ari-freedom]

"I want a tax cut...kill the babies"

I'm sorry but remember: NOTHING is more important than life!


Don't Cut and Run, vote pro-life every time. It's the way you always win.

‘We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life — the unborn — without diminishing the value of all human life.’ —Ronald Reagan

“As soon as Romney falls down on his knees on national TV in front of God and everyone; and repents and begs for forgiveness for all the innocent young lives that were murdered in the womb on his watch after he ran on the pro-abortion platform, then I will consider it. If the man had any integrity at all, he’d resign and spend the rest of his life and the rest of his money trying to undo some of the wrong he’s done. But not as president. That office is reserved for honest men of the highest character and integrity.” Jim Robinson, founder of FreeRepublic

[muawiyah]

Lubovitch proselytizes ~ or rather, calls Jews, or those of Jewish heritage, or with a Jewish ancestor or two, back to Judaism.

Lots of folks out there have Jewish ancestors and that makes America a fertile field for them.

BTW, I'd rather listen to a recorded sermon by Meier Schneersen every day than a speech by the Hildabest for 1 minute over the course of my life.

[Brandie]

LOL, I am not a Mormon and I don't live in Utah and I loathe Huck the Hick.

[MNJohnnie]

I know, don’t bother you with those pesky little facts! You are in love with John McCain and that is all that matters!

[freeplancer]

You is ignorant boy. You do realize that it is physically impossible for every single “of age” male to “fight” for their country don’t you? Our military could not handle it. At least he went out on a mission to serve other people for two years, but that does not count for anything. I bet you and your family and all of your friends “fought” for our country huh? Exactly