Coming out of the blue, Mike Huckabee has supplanted nationally famous figures such as Rudy Giuliani and John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination. He has pushed aside the long-standing frontrunner in Iowa, Mitt Romney, a prominent former governor of an important state and a rich man who has spent tens of millions of his own dollars in trying to grab the early state caucuses and primaries. The attack guns of his Republican opponents and the media have now turned on Huckabee as he emerges as a top-tier candidate. With relatively little money, and without the on-ground organisation that is so important, especially in Iowa, he may fade.
But why have the Republican faithful suddenly flocked to him? It’s simple: religion. Huckabee pushes his Christianity as his politics. And not just any Christianity: he’s an evangelical Baptist pastor, and he is using a combination of the Bible and populism to appeal to the conservative religious base of the Republican Party, which until now has been unable to find a home among the candidates on offer.
Aust 21 Dec 2007
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