Thread: Huckabee Win May Be a Fluke

Huckabee Win May Be a Fluke
Friday, January 4, 2008 10:18 AM
By: Ronald Kessler

Mike Huckabee’s win in Iowa may be a fluke attributable largely to the fact that 60 percent of Republicans who voted in the caucuses described themselves as evangelical Christians.

That means they are big boosters of a candidate who is a former southern Baptist minister and suspicious of Mit Romney’s Mormon religion. Many evangelicals consider the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to be a non-Christian cult.

In entrance polls in the Iowa Republican caucuses, almost half of those who said they were evangelicals said they were voting for Huckabee. Eight in 10 of Huckabee’s supporters said they are born again or evangelical Christians, compared to fewer than half of Romney’s backers.

Thus, in Iowa, Romney — who won 25 percent of the vote vs. Huckabee’s 34 percent — ran into a perfect storm arrayed against his candidacy.

The national story may be quite different. In contrast to Iowa, voters in this Tuesday’s primary in New Hampshire are not so interested in a candidate’s religion but rather more interested in a candidate’s record, particularly when it comes to taxes.

That is an area where Romney outshines Huckabee. As Massachusetts governor, Romney turned a $3 billion deficit into a surplus without raising taxes. In contrast, by the end of his 10-year tenure, Huckabee was responsible for a 37 percent hike in the sales tax in Arkansas. Spending increased by 65 percent — three times the rate of inflation.

New Hampshire voters are also more likely to give weight to Huckabee’s record when it comes to pardons. On that issue, Huckabee looks even more liberal than former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, who lost to George H.W. Bush in part because of a furlough program that allowed convicted murderer Willie Horton out of prison on a weekend pass, when he raped a woman.

As Arkansas governor, Huckabee commuted or pardoned 1,033 criminals, including 12 murderers. In contrast, Romney as governor granted no pardons or commutations while he was governor.

Clearly, Iowa voters gave little thought to whether Huckabee could win the White House. In a poll conducted for The Associated Press of voters entering Iowa’s caucuses, Huckabee voters indicated that values outranked electability in importance for them. Six in10 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. Nearly two-thirds of Huckabee voters also said it was very important that their candidate share their religious beliefs. One in five of Romney’s voters felt that way.

Fewer than one in 20 of Huckabee voters said they thought he had the best chance of winning in November. John McCain and Romney each won a little more than a third of voters who said the top priority was that a candidate “has the right experience.â€

It would have been very difficult for Romney to have won Iowa due to the large number of Evangelicals, even if Huckabee hadn't been a preacher and made his anti-Mormon comments and run a very deceitful campaign. I wish the MSM would report on this, but I'm not surprised they aren't.