Evangelicals A Key Part Of S.C. GOP Race
Propelled in Iowa by evangelicals' support, Mike Huckabee is trying for a repeat victory in South Carolina, where religion is woven even more tightly into the fabric of life.
A win there in the Jan. 19 primary would keep the former Southern Baptist minister and Arkansas governor in strong contention for the Republican presidential nomination, no matter how he does in the Michigan voting that comes first.
"He is tailor-made for South Carolina voters, better so than Bush in 2000," contends former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley, a Huckabee backer. But Huckabee's hardly alone in seeking - and gaining - support from evangelicals.
Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson have won important endorsements. John McCain is trying to mend fences after a difficult primary experience in South Carolina in 2000.
As in Iowa, where he won the Republican caucuses, the cash-strapped Huckabee is relying on pastors to help get out the vote. And he also has the support of some in the political establishment - Beasley is one - giving him organizing power he lacked in other early voting states. That could make a difference to pragmatic evangelical voters, who want a candidate who could actually win the nomination.
His background has given him some advantages. He spoke in early November at a "pastors' policy briefing" similar to those staged in Iowa and New Hampshire, where local pastors can meet with national Christian Huckabee supporters.
"He's had wonderful opportunities to talk to the 'grasstops,' these pastors who preach to hundreds of people, while not spending any money," said Oran Smith, executive director of the Palmetto Family Council, an anti-abortion group that has remained neutral on the presidential race. "Being a Baptist minister and a candidate for president, no one would want to turn him away."
White evangelicals account for 53 percent of the state's likely Republican voters, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Still, they "are not a monolithic group here and don't always vote together," cautioned Danielle Vinson, a political science professor at Furman University in Greenville. "Their leadership isn't giving them very clear signals this time, either."
South Carolina's political and religious elite have scattered endorsements across the GOP field:
Huckabee has the support of Republican Rep. Bob Inglis, who represents one swath of the state's northwest corner, or Upstate - the Bible Belt of South Carolina. Some influential Southern Baptist ministers have spoken warmly of Huckabee but are avoiding endorsements.
Bob Jones III of the fundamentalist Bob Jones University has endorsed Romney, helping the former Massachusetts governor as some evangelicals worried about his Mormon faith. Romney also was endorsed by Sen. Jim DeMint, an Upstate politician who is influential in the Presbyterian Church in America, headquartered in neighboring Georgia.
Fred Thompson, who is pinning his campaign survival on a strong South Carolina finish, was endorsed by South Carolina Citizens for Life. The endorsement came when Thompson was running second to abortion rights supporter Rudy Giuliani. Holly Gatling, the anti-abortion group's executive director, said this week her group still strongly backs Thompson, though its main goal is to prevent the former New York mayor from winning.
Another question is the resurgent McCain, who has sought to mend relations with evangelicals after his bitter South Carolina defeat in 2000. McCain has a strong advocate in Lindsey Graham, the state's other U.S. senator.
In 2000, the Christian Coalition was credited with boosting George W. Bush by distributing material spotlighting "disturbing facts about John McCain," including his stances on stem-cell research and campaign finance overhaul. In one sign of how South Carolina's evangelical dynamics have changed, the weakened coalition is sitting out this primary altogether.
Huckabee supporters are quick to point out that many of the state's endorsements came before their candidate emerged as a conservative contender.
Among the state's 700,000 Southern Baptists, support for Huckabee is mixed, but many now view him as an electable candidate who shares their evangelical values, said Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page, a pastor in Taylors, S.C. "Baptists are pragmatists who support those who they believe to be electable and consistent with pro-family policies," Page said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Some evangelicals are wary of Huckabee, believing he is too liberal on issues such as poverty, health care and the environment. Page, while not endorsing anyone, dismissed those criticisms, calling Huckabee a "caring, genuine, humble person."
In the final campaign stretch in South Carolina, Huckabee backers will distribute voter guides and air radio announcements urging Christian pastors to speak out on moral issues and encourage people to vote, said Janet Folger, a Florida-based talk show host and co-chair of Huckabee's Faith and Family Values Coalition.
In Iowa, pro-Huckabee pastors reported receiving unsigned letters warning them that getting involved in the race would endanger their churches' tax-exempt status - and Folger said she expects more of the same.
During a rally Wednesday at a hotel ballroom in Spartanburg, Huckabee found a receptive audience that included a homeschooling mother, abortion rights opponents and a woman who said she learned only recently Huckabee was a minister.
Jessie Davis, a 27-year-old mother of three from Inman, S.C., held her youngest, 8-month old Abbie, in her arms. Davis said the No. 1 thing that attracted her to Huckabee was "Christian values."
"He's going to ask God what do before he asks somebody else," Davis said after the rally. "God designed everything. He knows how it's supposed to work."
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. A win there in the Jan. 19 primary would keep the former Southern Baptist minister and Arkansas governor in strong contention for the Republican presidential nomination, no matter how he does in the Michigan voting that comes first.
"He is tailor-made for South Carolina voters, better so than Bush in 2000," contends former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley, a Huckabee backer. But Huckabee's hardly alone in seeking - and gaining - support from evangelicals.
Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson have won important endorsements. John McCain is trying to mend fences after a difficult primary experience in South Carolina in 2000.
As in Iowa, where he won the Republican caucuses, the cash-strapped Huckabee is relying on pastors to help get out the vote. And he also has the support of some in the political establishment - Beasley is one - giving him organizing power he lacked in other early voting states. That could make a difference to pragmatic evangelical voters, who want a candidate who could actually win the nomination.
His background has given him some advantages. He spoke in early November at a "pastors' policy briefing" similar to those staged in Iowa and New Hampshire, where local pastors can meet with national Christian Huckabee supporters.
"He's had wonderful opportunities to talk to the 'grasstops,' these pastors who preach to hundreds of people, while not spending any money," said Oran Smith, executive director of the Palmetto Family Council, an anti-abortion group that has remained neutral on the presidential race. "Being a Baptist minister and a candidate for president, no one would want to turn him away."
White evangelicals account for 53 percent of the state's likely Republican voters, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Still, they "are not a monolithic group here and don't always vote together," cautioned Danielle Vinson, a political science professor at Furman University in Greenville. "Their leadership isn't giving them very clear signals this time, either."
South Carolina's political and religious elite have scattered endorsements across the GOP field:
Another question is the resurgent McCain, who has sought to mend relations with evangelicals after his bitter South Carolina defeat in 2000. McCain has a strong advocate in Lindsey Graham, the state's other U.S. senator.
In 2000, the Christian Coalition was credited with boosting George W. Bush by distributing material spotlighting "disturbing facts about John McCain," including his stances on stem-cell research and campaign finance overhaul. In one sign of how South Carolina's evangelical dynamics have changed, the weakened coalition is sitting out this primary altogether.
Huckabee supporters are quick to point out that many of the state's endorsements came before their candidate emerged as a conservative contender.
Among the state's 700,000 Southern Baptists, support for Huckabee is mixed, but many now view him as an electable candidate who shares their evangelical values, said Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page, a pastor in Taylors, S.C. "Baptists are pragmatists who support those who they believe to be electable and consistent with pro-family policies," Page said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Some evangelicals are wary of Huckabee, believing he is too liberal on issues such as poverty, health care and the environment. Page, while not endorsing anyone, dismissed those criticisms, calling Huckabee a "caring, genuine, humble person."
In the final campaign stretch in South Carolina, Huckabee backers will distribute voter guides and air radio announcements urging Christian pastors to speak out on moral issues and encourage people to vote, said Janet Folger, a Florida-based talk show host and co-chair of Huckabee's Faith and Family Values Coalition.
In Iowa, pro-Huckabee pastors reported receiving unsigned letters warning them that getting involved in the race would endanger their churches' tax-exempt status - and Folger said she expects more of the same.
During a rally Wednesday at a hotel ballroom in Spartanburg, Huckabee found a receptive audience that included a homeschooling mother, abortion rights opponents and a woman who said she learned only recently Huckabee was a minister.
Jessie Davis, a 27-year-old mother of three from Inman, S.C., held her youngest, 8-month old Abbie, in her arms. Davis said the No. 1 thing that attracted her to Huckabee was "Christian values."
"He's going to ask God what do before he asks somebody else," Davis said after the rally. "God designed everything. He knows how it's supposed to work."
Popular in Politics
- FBI director acknowledges domestic drone use
- Obama and Berlin: Faded echoes meet new realities
- Smooth, on-time Obamacare rollout no sure thing: GAO
- Senators: U.S. must take "more decisive" military action in Syria
- House Republicans pass 20-week limit on abortions 310 Comments
- Obama renews push for a nuclear disarmament legacy
- Immigration reform would cut deficit, analysis shows 76 Comments
- GOP Sen. Murkowski backs same-sex marriage
Posted by FlangeSqueal at 10:12 AM : Jan 13, 2008
Wow, you said a mouthful, very accurate and funny too. But don''t forget how Patricia Robertson just sold her sole to the devil when she backed the relatively liberal John McCain who has been anything but a faithful soldier against Roe v. Wade. Robertson cut a deal with McCain for sure, but I doubt the pay-off is overturning Roe -- it''s probably more to do with helping Pattycakes amass even more wealth by stealing it from the poor and the eldery, which, by the way, you and I end up footing the bill for.
You have to wonder why they don''t teach Peace - they are soo much like the so called Evil Muslim Clerics it is hard to distinguish between the 2 of them - except the Christians are driving Rolls Royce''s and the Muslims have those ugly beards.
Just look at the last 50 years of the evangelical speeches - like Pat Robertson - all he talks about is filled with Hatred because others do not live the way he expects them too.
Time to wake up America - Evangelicals will be our demise.
Posted by starleo14672 at 08:45 PM : Jan 11, 2008
The right wing evangelicals have a bizarre and twisted idea of what atheists are like. They think we live some sort of dank, dark, lives of hopeless and despair. It makes them feel better to think so anyway. The truth is that I''m an atheist and my life is quite happy. However if they were to accept the idea that a person can be just as happy without believing in the myth that they do, then their whole faith and world view would crumble like the house of cards that it is. For many people the idea of being without the crutch of religion is just to frightening to bear.
Posted by Candide777 at 07:47 PM : Jan 11, 2008
You are a perfect example to do good in this world all you have to do is find a cause and get it done. To hear all these church goers they are the only one doing good in this world.With all this evangelical stuff the media is portraying it looks like they are the only one that has the right to vote.we just had 7 going on 8 years of a President elected by the religious right haven''t you got your fill yet
Posted by erichsh at 07:16 PM : Jan 11, 2008
By the way, erichsh, even though I am an atheist, I have volunteered a number of times at a nearby church to help distribute food to the poor. I do wonder how much charitable work done by atheists every day is credited to believers.