January 2008 Archives

Here's an open invitation to take Beliefnet's faith and politics '08 poll. This is your chance to weigh in on the most faith-based presidential campaign in memory. We should have results next week.

The conventional wisdom is that Huckabee is slipping because he has not expanded beyond his evangelical base. That’s wrong. He’s losing because he’s not even winning his evangelical base.

In Michigan, Huckabee won only 29% of evangelicals, less even than the Mormon Mitt Romney. Perhaps that was a fluke related to Romney’s semi-home-state advantage? Nope. The same thing happened in New Hampshire, where he won 28% of evangelicals, tying with McCain, who’s supposedly loathed by the religious base.

Evangelicals were a substantial bloc in Michigan – 39% of the voters. If he’d done as well among religious Christians in Michigan as he had in Iowa, he would have come close to winning Michigan.

Why isn't Huck winning evangelicals?

That's why you get asked the questions about your Christian position in the debates. If you don't want to handle Christians questions, why did you advertise as a Christian leader. You brought this on yourself.

And it was glorious! Told him what a Reagan conservative was! I'll post a video when I can find one.

I don't like the format of the debate and there is way too much Romney and McCain time.

And I was glad that Ron Paul insisted that he get to answer the same question as the other candidates. He was clearly being dissed and he wasn't going to put up with it. Good for him. I thought it was appropriate that they asked him about his supporters but that he should not be excluded from answering the questions.

I hope he plans to draw a clear distinction between his conservatism and Huckabee's (evidently, the term has been redefined) and that he doesn't waste his time with Romney:

"I think this is now a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican party." Thompson said. "We're going to decide whether or not we stay the party of the Reagan coalition or whether we go left in a more populist vein, and I'm going to draw that comparison tonight."

The remark is a clear reference to Huckabee, whose stump speech has been infused with populist rhetoric throughout the campaign, including his newest line that he "wants to be a president who's more like the guy you work with than the guy who lays you off." Huckabee's economic populism has drawn ire from all corners of the conservative establishment including Rush Limbaugh and the Club for Growth, which tried unsuccessfully to derail his rise in Iowa earlier this month with a series ads criticizing his fiscal record as Governor of Arkansas.

The dawn is spreading after years of darkness; it’s a new day in politics, one that is governed by hope and a belief that we can be different. That Obama can lead Democrats and Republicans into the promised land of...

Guess who's winning so far? Huckabee of course, is there any Christian candidate? Though, Obama and Thompson are tied for second :-) Ron Paul is only at 6.5%, I guess the Paulians haven't discovered the poll yet. (via)...

Back to populism again: I notice that he didn't mention that he raised taxes as well and that he left the state with a surplus (which means the tax payers were over taxed). Allahpundit thinks it's an implied negative ad...

Though it wasn’t the main story line Tuesday, we did learn a few interesting things about the evangelical vote: Huckabee doesn’t have it locked up. Amazingly, he got only 28% of the evangelical vote in New Hampshire. Are there regional...

Get this: Huckabee won only 28% of the evangelicals who voted in the Republican primary. He, Romney and McCain basically tied....

There's a push by the Democrats, who are limited to Hillary, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel in their primary, to mess with the Republican nomination by voting for Huckabee. This is the same group of Democrats who voted for McCain...

When Hillary said during her New Hampshire victory speech, "Over the last week, I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice," I snorted. It seemed odd that after campaigning for a year, she would only...

You couldn't have more of a status quo vote than McCain and Clinton....

Obama won among people who feel like the economy is doing well and Hillary won among those who disagreed. Obama won among college graduates, Hillary won among those who didnt graduate college. If this pattern persist, Obama will lose. Mondale/Hart....

Holy Moly. Evangelicals made up 21% of the New Hampshire Republican voters -- and went 32% for Huckabee and 31% for McCain, who was supposedly loathed by religious Christians. Exhibit #838 that we need to recalibrate our understanding of...

Everyone is assuming that Huckabee's only chance is down south in the Bible belt. But before they get to South Carolina, where he should do well, they hit Michigan. We don’t tend to think of Michigan as an evangelical state...

But it's not all Obamania Secretary of State William Gardner has predicted 260,000 Granite Staters will vote in the Democratic primary and 240,000 will vote in the Republican primary. He predicted that 150,000 undeclared voters will cast votes - 90,000...

Obamania! So, tell me how the Republicans win against this in November? From Drudge: Secretary of State is making runs to Seacoast – Hampton, Portsmouth – and Southern Hillsborough – Pelham, Nashua – to bring extra democratic ballots. Many towns...

I guess his "top immigration surrogate" didn't speak for him: Gov. Mike Huckabee has issued the following comment in response to a Washington Times article reporting he would amend the Constitution in connection to children born in the U.S. to...

I guess his "top immigration surrogate" didn't speak for him: Gov. Mike Huckabee has issued the following comment in response to a Washington Times article reporting he would amend the Constitution in connection to children born in the U.S. to...

It looks like it according to his "top immigration surrogate" Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens, according to his top immigration surrogate — a...

If illegal immigration really was the major issue of the campaign, Thompson would win the nomination and the election because he's the only one who understands the issue. He gives the perfect answer to the question of compassion (how can...

Reading Rod's and Dan's posts together and keeping this in mind: His aides are wary of New Hampshire. “It’s all no tax, no government there,” said Bob Wickers, a top strategist. “It’s not ideal.” But they believe that the message...

Video proof here....

I liked the format, though I wasn't too thrilled with some of the questions and how long they stuck with the questions. The first two were really good but the one on healthcare was a waste of time except for...

Who has been "delivered to us" and is not the Word made flesh but the triumph of word over flesh: Obama's finest speeches do not excite. They do not inform. They don't even really inspire. They elevate. They enmesh you...

Oh. My. Heck! No one can beat Clinton for sheer audacity: Bill Clinton voiced his abiding anger at the media's coverage of him and his wife in Durham, N.H., today, and suggested that media bias will force Clinton to go...

Rod Dreher's assessment that Huckabee's appeal was "not just a triumph of theocon identity politics" seems to me a little bit like rewriting history. And though I will concede that Huckabee no doubt received many votes because of his populist...

I basically agree with David Kuo and Rod Dreher that Huckabee’s victory cannot be dismissed as an evangelical fluke – a la Pat Robertson in 1988. Huckabee’s message and style are just too appealing to evaporate over night. BUT before...

The Iowa caucuses delivered a pair of dramatic upsets as Barack Obama, just three years into his first Senate term, racked up a strong first-place finish while the once seemingly inevitable Hillary Clinton finished third and as Mike Huckabee bested...

Huckabee won because he played identity politics. He asked Christians to vote for him because he was a Christian and they did. And I believe it was a huge mistake. Christianity has been co-opted by the Republicans too much already...

Way to show support for the striking writers that you say you "support" "unequivocally" and "absolutely."...

Brilliant ad by Romney! Hitting McCain on two of the issues that have been the most irksome -- taxes and amnesty -- and using actual voters in NH to criticize McCain. Who does McCain hit for lying about him then?...

According to Allahpundit, it's a Romney ad:...