As if it were needed, more documentation of Mike Huckabee's failure to break out of his conservative evangelical base, by way of The Washington Post:
Since a surprising win in Iowa, Huckabee has failed to win a primary or caucus, and he has not been able to demonstrate that he can expand his support beyond the evangelicals who powered his win in Iowa and his second-place finish in South Carolina. And in states such as Florida and Michigan, he ran even with Romney, who is a Mormon, among evangelicals."I've always known that evangelicals are not a monolithic vote," Huckabee said. "I'm maybe one of the few that knows because I am one. . . . Evangelicals are like everybody else, they're evangelicals and those issues are important to them, but maybe they're evangelical and union members and they vote union before they vote gay marriage."
....After Iowa, Huckabee aides had hoped to use that victory as a springboard to raise $10 million before Super Tuesday, funds they planned to use to hire additional staff in key states and run television ads. But hopes that the money spigot would be turned on -- and that party establishment figures would flock to his candidacy -- were all predicated on a win in South Carolina.
Huckabee aides were in tears as the results rolled in showing a second-place finish in South Carolina, and a campaign that had raised only $9 million in 2007 laid off staff the next day, dropped plans to air ads in Florida and was dogged by rumors that Huckabee would not compete in the Sunshine State. The campaign was still able to air ads in some of the Southern states that will vote Tuesday but has struggled to raise $5 million before that most important day.
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I have been pondering the motive of Huckabee. Why would he stay in a race for President as a distant third candidate? Two answers that resonate with me are: 1. He is conspiring with McCain for VP or a cabinet position; or 2. He is a misinformed Christian and follows the line of thinking that a "mormon" should not be President and he is campaigning hard to make sure that doesn't happen.
Either way, his smooth talking charisma has fallen short of receiving my support!
BTW, I will be voting for Obama - because if McCain is the GOP canidate than I do not want any part of it!
We Leftists don't need to build a Gulag for you Christian Conservatives, Donny! You've thoughtfully already constructed them for us...Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, various secret prisons in Third-World countries.
You've also given us legal cover for the round-up, with policies like extraordinately rendition, and for your "re-education", with waterboarding and torture memos. (Oh wait...waterboarding's not torture. Oh well!)
You've even thoughtfully set the precedent of a dictatorial executive branch, able to ignore laws of the land through the use of Presidential Signing Statements! We can't wait to use those!
It's just that now, all these nifty innovations, championed by people Just Like You, can be more properly used against those deserving of their embrace. Not the poor, the innocent, the Other. Nope...now we can use them against their creators.
Remember: it's not torture until it makes a major organ fail.
Donny said, "Huckabee didn't catch on because too many people - including Christians - are getting their minds fed by CNN and HBO."
I don't think that's the case, I think Mr. Huckabee's own record, his campaign, and his rhetoric led to his slide out of contention. I watch NO television (we don't even have cable) and as a Christian homeschool mother of 6 you'd think I'd be solidly in the his camp. But not at all. It wasn't the MSM but the internet that led to both his surge and his demise. There are just too many primary source documents that one can look to to find out that Huckabee is not a man of substance. He claimed a theology degree that didn't exist. He also claimed his faith defihned him, but never let out the sermons that would reveal that faith. He claimed that a child shouldn't pay for the sins of their parents, but now wants to deport all immigrants even the children. He lied about why he had to raise taxes in the now famous video. I'd expect this from a non-believer but not a Christian politican who rightly should be held to a higher standard.
Huckabee likes to play the victim, but in the end it was Huckabee himself that caused me and most of my evangelical friends not to vote for Huckabee.
I find it also very ironic that in the final days of this campaign he is going after Romney and not McCain. Does Huckabee really want to win? That's hard for me to believe especially for a campaign that's out of cash, but in a strange twist is running radio ads in Michigan for his book! Why would Huckabee who claims to be working until the end be peddling his book in Michigan but not running ads for President?
JPL,
BEST reply to "Donny" EVER! So appropriate. Someday he may realize that it's talk like his that turns people off Christ. I just hope that day doesn't happen before November 6th, if ya catch my drift.
Pondering--a lot of people share your theory that Huckabee's refusal to exit the race is a gift to John McCain because it siphons off cultural conservative votes from Mitt Romney. A Republican strategist told me today that that might not be right. He pointed to the Florida exit polls from last Tuesday, which showed that most voters who identfied Huckabee as their second choice broke for McCain (55-percent) over Romney (32-percent). I think it's a pretty good point. Could Huckabee be denying McCain more votes that Romney?
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