As he disarms the mainstream media with his folksy charm, it can be easy to forget that Mike Huckabee is campaigning as a Christian Right candidate, sans fire and brimstone. His new ad in Iowa is a pretty good reminder, earning Huckabee God-o-Meter’s first “10” rating of the ’08 campaign cycle. The ad opens with the words “Christian Leader” flashing across the screen as the onetime Baptist preacher explains that his “faith doesn’t just influence me, it really defines me.” The spot goes on to heavily excerpt his recent speech at the Values Voter Summit, and ends with an exhortation to religious conservatives to “live or die” by such principles as recognizing that life starts at conception.God-o-Meter concedes that Huckabee says all this in his usual uber-folksy tones. But can it be very long till his media sympathizers start frowning on such theo-talk? 10

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