Why We Support Mike Huckabee

We first became aware of Mike Huckabee through an article in World Magazine and were reminded of him after his strong showing in the August 5th debate, when analyst Frank Luntz proclaimed him the undisputed winner.

Since then we have followed him closely, watched his debate footage, listened to his interviews, researched his positions, and read countless articles. We are convinced that Mike Huckabee is not only the best candidate for Christian conservative voters, but that he has the elusive political charisma to pull in voters from all sides of the political spectrum. He's done it before, serving 10 and half years as governor in a state where over 80 percent of the elected officials were Democrats.

Mike Huckabee is an authentic and tested conservative. Prior to running for elected office he served for 12 years as a small-town Baptist pastor and has been married to his wife, Janet, for 33 years. He is unassailably conservative on issues of religion, abortion, same-sex marriage, and the Second Amendment. At the same time, he is able to explain his views on divisive issues, from abortion to creationism, in a way that doesn't alienate those who differ with him on his policy stances. According to political analysts tracking audience response during the televised Republican debates, Huckabee was the winner in every single one.

Salon wrote of Huckabee:

He is the only Republican currently running for president with solid-gold Christian-right credentials as well as the potential to appeal to crossover independent voters, who abandoned the Republican Party in 2006... [He] appears to have that special something -- the charismatic ability to communicate with the common man, which hundreds of millions of dollars never bought Bob Dole, Al Gore or John Kerry.

Or consider what Richard Land, who heads the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, has said:

Huckabee is as close to Bill Clinton as I have seen for a Republican since Ronald Reagan left public life. When he speaks, he not only knows the words and music, he knows the harmony and the melody.

Or consider what the HSLDA PAC Committee said in a letter from J. Michael Smith and Michael Farris, when they took the historic step of making an early presidential endorsement for 2008:

We believe that Mike Huckabee, Governor of Arkansas, should be elected the next President of the United States. Mike is a principled conservative, a friend of homeschooling, a man of character, and a man with a mature faith in Jesus Christ... We believe that [he] may be the only candidate in the race who could defeat Hillary Clinton in 2008.

There's a chance you haven't heard of (or at least, much of) Huckabee before coming to this blog. That's because the mainstream media hardly gives him the time of day and his fundraising is dwarfed by the big three (i.e. media darlings) of Guiliani, Romney, and McCain. But most Republicans are dissatisfied with those three, for good reason, and political pundits are almost unanimous that the only thing separating Huckabee from breaking into the top-tier is the money to get his message out. Yet even with very little money, Huckabee is beginning to close in.

The latest polls in Iowa show Huckabee tied with John McCain for third place among announced candidates. In a recent Political Insider's poll, Republican insiders named Huckabee as the most underrated candidate at 46 percent, over 20 percentage points ahead of their next choice, Mitt Romney. Just earlier this week, Newt Gingrich said that Huckabee was the dark horse candidate in the race and predicted that his authenticity and candor is going to catch on with Republican primary voters in the weeks ahead, saying that he deserves to be considered a top-tier candidate.

But our words and the words of others can only say so much. We ask you to take eight minutes to watch a video of Mike Huckabee speaking for himself on a myriad of issues. You can see it by clicking right here. Two other great videos of Huckabee are courtesy of Comedy Central, on the Colbert Report and Daily Show.

After you have watched the videos, we encourage you to get involved by signing up for email updates on MikeHuckabee.com, posting/emailing your own version of this post to your friends, and most importantly, by donating to his campaign. Any amount will help, but we encourage you to be generous in supporting a man who not only shares our convictions, but who can bring together a divided party and nation.

We also encourage you to act quickly. On Saturday there will be a critical straw poll in Ames, Iowa. A strong showing there will be the proof many national donors and leaders need to get behind his campaign and vault him into the top-tier. If you live in Iowa, we urge you to go and vote for Mike Huckabee. If you have friends or family there, call and urge them to go and vote. The 2008 election will be a defining one for our country and our generation.

Let's throw our hats in the ring and act. God bless you all!

Continue to Our Thoughts After the Straw Poll...