Political Baptism by Fire: Mike Huckabee No Longer A Dark Horse

With national polls showing him (Mike Huckabee) surging to the front of the GOP race, the candidate who promotes himself in television ads as a "Christian leader" is undergoing a political baptism by fire.

His better-funded, better-known rival, Mitt Romney, this week began airing campaign ads in Iowa attacking Mr. Huckabee's political record. He's facing scrutiny over his past attitudes toward gays and common-law couples. And, on Wednesday, Mr. Huckabee faced accusations he had deliberately disparaged rival Romney's Mormon religion.

"I'm going to be a lot more careful about everything I say, because I find that it gets amplified to a new level," Mr. Huckabee quipped during a Republican all-candidates debate in Des Moines.

Indeed. In just the last week, the media entourage following Mr. Huckabee has tripled amid his transformation from dark horse candidate to legitimate Republican contender.

The new interest comes on the heels of an ABC News-Washington Post survey this week which found support for GOP frontrunner Rudy Giuliani had slipped to 25% support nationally, with Mr. Huckabee jumping into second place with 19%. Mr. Romney sits third at 17%.

Medieval and Profoundly Catholic View of God and How the World Works

Ric Caric writes:

...Huckabee believes that God is putting his chips squarely on the Huckabee square.

But why?

Huckabee has a very medieval and profoundly Catholic concept of how the world works. He believes that "literally thousands of people are praying" on behalf of his campaign and that their intercession with God has resulted in God favoring his campaign and supporting him.

What about the other Republican candidates like Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Ron Paul?

It follows from Huckabee's views that God must not only be ignoring the candidacies of the other Republicans, God must actively be working against them. Perhaps Huckabee thinks that God hates most Republicans even though he favors Huckabee. There's nothing to object to in the first part of that statement. Given that the Christian god disdains wealth, insists that people love their enemies, and values the poor, depressed, and suffering over the happy and secure, it should be obvious that God hates the Republicans.

The only question is whether God is making an exception for Huckabee or not.

I don't think so myself. If God is doing anything, he's favoring Huckabee as the weakest and weirdest Republican candidate for the general election and thus ensuring that the Republican Party as a whole is going to lose.

In other words, Huckabee's rise is solid proof that God loves Hillary

Huckabee is 2nd in GOP Race

Alan Fram writes:

WASHINGTON - Mike Huckabee has vaulted from nowhere into second place in the Republican presidential race, riding a burst of support from evangelicals, Southerners and conservatives, a nationwide poll showed Friday.

The surge by the former Arkansas governor has come largely at the expense of Fred Thompson, according to the national survey by The Associated Press and Ipsos. Thompson has dropped after failing to galvanize the party's right-wing core as much as some had expected.

Rudy Giuliani remains the front-runner, yet while his support long has been steady it shows signs of fraying. Huckabee's growing strength in the South has come as the former New York mayor's support there has dropped, the poll found.

"Why not me?" Huckabee said in an interview Thursday. "I meet all the criteria. I'm conservative, but I think I appeal to a broader set of voters. And I think that people are also looking for someone with whom they can identify."