Posted on 02/04/2008 8:20:41 PM PST by 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.
Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.
Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.Huck is absolutely UNELECTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn he can’t even win over Evangelicals.
**TRUTH BUMP **
Post #116
well he won this Jew’s vote. He is more electable than Mitt and a vote for Huckabee is a strong clear vote for pro-life.
But McCain will win the nomination and does have the best chance at winning.
Rather suspect, unless he is a ‘Jack’ Mormon.
Ditto to both statements.
Who’s ‘we’... got a moose in your pocket, are just a suck-up to the owner of this board?
They are simply stating a fact. Google it for yourself.
CONSERVATIVE????
Yeah, they would. I was raised as a Baptist.
well if you support a gun grabbing, baby killing liberal then what are you doing on FR? there are other forums for that.
“We”, the conservatives who actually care about such things instead of merely paying lip service, defeated Rudy because he was a gun grabbing, baby killing liberal and Romney will be next.
so what is your plan?
Indeed it is:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1964996/posts
That is an interesting article. I don't believe it completely, but I do believe many people have not actually analyzed what is happening in these primaries.
I took a look at the polls. I noticed something interesting. Most of the Southern states have Romney well down in 3rd place. One state, Georgia is an exception. Why is Georgia so different from Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma and South Carolina? The reason -- Atlanta. There are a higher percentage of liberals and moderates in Georgia than the other Southern states mentioned.
It is also why he pulled close to McCain in Florida and beat out Huckabee. Missouri with its large liberal city of St. Louis is also a bit different because even though Romney polls in third place, he does appear to be closer to Huckabee and McCain in that state.
I believe that the moderates are actually being split between Romney and McCain. McCain takes all the liberals, some of the moderates and the military/defense minded conservative.
Romney takes moderates and the fiscal conservatives.
Huckabee takes the social conservatives. There are more social conservatives in the South than anywhere else. That is why he does well in that region.
I also believe that a large number of the Reagan conservatives have not engaged in this race because they really don't have anyone to support. So crying about this one or that one getting out won't really change things in Romney's favor.
Romney does not draw social conservatives. How do I know? He gets little support in the states with a high concentration of social conservatives. Yet he gives McCain a hard time in the states with more republican moderates where I believe Romney has the best chance. The more liberals in the state, the better chance McCain will have. McCain's strong area here in Florida were the Giuliani liberal counties in the southern and western coastal parts of the state. As well as any area that has a military presence.
High liberal states like New York and New Jersey will go for McCain now that Rudy is out of the race.
What I am trying to say is that the idea that social conservatives will go for Mitt is not being supported in the states with high social conservatives. So I don't believe that Huckabee leaving the race will help Mitt one bit.
He stated many times that he did’t leave the Democratic party, the democratic party left him.
Huckabee Backs Mandatory U.S. Cap on Global-Warming Pollution
Two peas in a pod.
I saw Huckabee’s commercial advocating the complete overhaul of the tax code. I’m from NY so he is reaching out to us. This is something that Romney is against...he was always against a flat tax.
Punt!
Romney supports a global treaty limiting greenhouse gases
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4066593411185729948&q=romney+santa&total=35&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
I don’t want another WTO...
The only time I’ve been called a bigot on Free Republic is by mormons. Looking through this article I can see that many of them are quick to claim they’ve been offended, basically hypersensitive. Who cares if some evangelical seminar was held in Salt Lake City near the mormon temple?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.