Sunday, March 26, 2006
L.A. Times: Huckabee 'A Fierce Defender Of Traditional Family Values'
For months Governor Mike Huckabee has made headlines for his leadership in health and wellness related efforts in the battle against obesity. During this time, we have been perhaps the only resource on the web telling you that he has much more to offer than just healthcare.We present for you today an article from the Los Angeles Times that does not even mention health and wellness. Instead, the Times has noticed that Huckabee also has the potential to appeal strongly to the religious right and social conservatives who elected George Bush twice.
Look for media attention about Huckabee to continue this shift as more and more of them begin to look beyond health and wellness and discover the other attributes that will make him a formidable candidate.
We reproduce portions of the article for you below. To read it in its entirety, click HERE.
Right Is Might for GOP's Aspirants
By Janet Hook, Times Staff Writer
March 25, 2006
WASHINGTON — Most Americans know one thing about Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, if they know anything at all: He lost more than 100 pounds in one year, a triumph touted in a weight-loss book that he has hawked around the country. But evangelical conservative activists know one or two other things that make the governor a standout among Republicans who may run for president in 2008: Huckabee is a Baptist minister and a fierce defender of traditional family values.
"Let's face it," he recently told a crowd of Christian conservatives in Iowa, the state that holds the nation's earliest presidential caucuses. "In our lifetimes, we've seen our country go from 'Leave It to Beaver' to 'Beavis and Butt-head,' from Barney Fife to Barney Frank, from 'Father Knows Best' to television shows where father knows nothing." Huckabee's early outreach to evangelicals — in Iowa and elsewhere — is a tribute to the clout of the GOP's Christian conservative wing. That faction was crucial to President Bush's reelection in 2004, and is maneuvering to have a big say in who wins the party's nomination in 2008.
...Huckabee is building on ties to religious leaders that he made as a Southern Baptist minister and former president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. He has endorsed South Dakota's new abortion ban, and last week spoke at a Florida gathering hosted by the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ.
Kudos to the Times for getting it.
BSR
