Objectively, All You Need To Read Of The Huckabee Profile

I'll spare the analysis, the three passages below speak pretty loudly for themselves, you can read Allah's take here, Ann Althouse weighs in, or consult Memeorandum for a dozen more.

In short, he loses Arkansas to Hillary 35/8 a year after leaving office as a popular governor, garners no significant Christian cash, not even from friends, and that's true as regards endorsements from most of his peers, as well. The people that know him best aren't supporting his candidacy. Rationalize it all you want, what more is there to know?

He was, by most reckonings, a successful governor. He built roads, improved the schools, gave fine speeches and comported himself with affability. Folks generally liked Mike. Which is why many were surprised when, at the end of October, the University of Arkansas published a poll in which state voters, asked an open question about their presidential preference, chose Hillary Clinton. She got 35 percent. Huckabee, less than a year out of the governor’s mansion, tied Rudy Giuliani for second place with 8 percent.

...

In late November, Huckabee began running a short television ad called ‘‘Believe.’’ It starts with the candidate declaring, ‘‘Faith doesn’t just influence me, it really defines me.’’ As he speaks, the words ‘‘Christian Leader’’ flash across the screen. This ad was, of course, directed at the evangelical voters of Iowa. But it has also caught the attention of big-time figures in evangelical Christianity, many of whom have refrained from supporting Huckabee’s candidacy. This failure has puzzled and angered the governor. At the Olive Garden he spoke with bitterness about Richard Land, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. ‘‘Richard Land swoons for Fred Thompson,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t know what that’s about.

The following week, at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, Huckabee won the roomful of grass-roots evangelicals but failed to gain any significant endorsements from evangelical leaders. ‘‘The evangelical leadership didn’t, and perhaps still doesn’t, perceive Governor Huckabee as a winner,’’ Charles Dunn, dean of the school of government at Regent University, told me.

This indictment extends to the founder of Dunn’s own university, Pat Robertson, who has endorsed Rudy Giuliani. It applies equally to the National Right to Life Committee, which is with Fred Thompson; and to the Rev. Bob Jones III, Jay Sekulow, head of the American Center for Law and Justice (the evangelical counterpart of the A.C.L.U.), and Paul Weyrich, the conservative activist who helped build the evangelical movement, all of whom are supporting Mitt Romney. James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, is still on the fence. ‘‘I just don’t understand his neutrality,’’ Huckabee told me one day at the end of October in Des Moines. ‘‘I’d be an obvious choice for his endorsement. We’re old friends. I love him and I love his wife, Shirley. I just don’t know how to explain it.’’

...

Huckabee, who tithes himself, agrees. There is big evangelical money out there, of course, but so far he hasn’t been on the receiving end of it. In the first three-quarters of this year, his campaign’s largest individual bundler was Stephens Inc., a Little Rock investment-banking firm that anted up about $35,000. Oddly, one member of the Stephens family, Jackson T. (Steve) Stephens Jr., has donated more than $1 million to the Club for Growth and is on its board of directors. The governor declined to discuss the matter, the only time in our dealings when I got a ‘‘no comment.’’

Comments

[seekeronos]

I "Believe" Mike Huckabee may very shortly be a "Huckaneverwillbee".

Christians who are supporting Huckaneverwillbee should know a dead horse when they see it, and give their support to the REAL conservative, Fred Thompson.

[chris]

It is highly entertaining to watch the 28%ers eat their own. Such excellent swiftboaters they are!

[seekeronos]

"--- It is highly entertaining to watch the 28%ers eat their own. Such excellent swiftboaters they are! ---"

Don't be such a Schtooberhead, Bob (I know that is very difficult for you, but give it a try anyway)... the good folks over on DU and other liberal hangouts are no less willing to slice each other to ribbons in the run up to the primaries.

It's called politics, don'tcha know.

[Techie]

Chris needs to update his percentages. It's up to 40% (not that polls mean shit)

Meanwhile, what's Congress at?

[joeb]

After reading the long profile in the Wash.Post today on Fred Thompson I now think he is the Republican candidate who can win. He is a good old boy and may not be very smart but he has the folksy ways that voters like. And he is a good actor. Probably a better actor than Ronald Reagan. He is tall and would play the part of President very well. Nixon thought he was dumb as a stump but Poor Richard is long gone. Huck can't beat Hillary or whoever else the Dims come up with but Fred can. I would rather have a winner from Tenn. than another loser from Arkansas. Fred impresses me with his common sense.

[BobInStamford]

"He is a good old boy and may not be very smart but he has the folksy ways that voters like."

By 'voters' you mean rednecks, right??? What a gullible bunch.

[John Lofton, Recovering Republican]

Hucksterbee is, alas, clueless when it comes to understanding the Biblical/Constitutional limits on civil government. Hope you'll visit our site (TheAmericanView.com) and listen to this radio show. Thanks. God bless you all -- and He does when we OBEY Him....

http://www.theamericanview.com/index.php?id=947