Huckabee Woos Texas Social Conservatives

GOP Longshot Depending On Those Who Control Texas Republican Party For Strong Showing

(CBS/AP)  Social conservatives could be the key to a good showing in Texas for Mike Huckabee, who wants the March 4 primary to broadcast that not all Republicans are ready to back frontrunner John McCain.

Because the Texas Republican Party is controlled by social and religious conservatives who usually drive primary voting, the race between Huckabee and McCain could be closer than in other big states. Polls have shown McCain ahead in Texas, but not always by large margins.

A CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted over the weekend showed McCain ahead in Texas with 56 percent to Huckabee's 31 percent.

The GOP bloc - in control since the 1990s and creator of the state party's staunchly conservative platform on issues from abortion to foreign policy - also has been at odds with Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who backed Rudy Giuliani, then McCain, and has deviated from the group on state policy issues.

McCain's campaign contends it isn't worried about Texas and notes that he won in South Carolina, another state with a social conservative base.

"Senator McCain has a strong, 24-year pro-life record and has stood in defense of traditional marriage," said spokeswoman Crystal Benton, adding that his record on national security should attract all types of conservative voters.

Huckabee, campaigning heavily in Texas last week, said a victory in the state would change "the discussion and the dynamics of the race."

"It will prove once again that I am winning in the states that really are the Republican, conservative-based states," the former Arkansas governor told supporters in Dallas.

Huckabee has refused to drop out after wins in Louisiana, Kansas, Arkansas, West Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Iowa and Tennessee. CBS News estimates that McCain has 897 delegates to Huckabee's 205.

It takes 1,191 delegates to secure the Republican nomination. Texas will dole out 140 delegates in its winner-take-all GOP primary.

Republican Ron Paul, a Libertarian-leaning Texas congressman who's even further behind Huckabee in the delegate count, will try to make a stand in his home state on primary day. An aggressive stronghold of Paul supporters in Austin has been organizing rallies and posting Paul signs for months and could cut in to any anti-McCain vote.

McCain has spent little time in Texas, but he swooped into Houston on President's Day to accept the endorsement of former President George H.W. Bush. He'll campaign in Texas later this week.

The Arizona senator also has help from Texas Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn. Perry has urged Huckabee to give up the nomination fight.

"We had an old rule called the mercy rule in six-man football," Perry said. "If you got behind by 45 points at the half, you had the option of calling it a night. I thought about Mike Huckabee when I thought about that old rule - that it's probably time for Mike to realize that for the sake of the party, and for the sake of unity and bringing folks together, it's kind of over."

That view annoys Huckabee fans, some of whom are still mad at Perry over his unsuccessful push last year to have school girls vaccinated against the HPV virus and over his decision to back Giuliani, a supporter of gay rights, embryonic stem cell research and abortion rights.

Huckabee activists formed a political action committee called Texans for Conservative Principles, and a group of pastors and other religious conservatives have fanned out across the state to promote the candidacy of the former Southern Baptist preacher.

"Mike Huckabee, he is pro-life from the heart," said Carol Everett, an abortion opponent who founded the Heidi Group for pregnant women.

Kelly Shackelford, president of the Free Market Foundation, said Huckabee is the choice for the state's conservatives.

"Conservatives across Texas are being encouraged to fold up their values and go home," Shackelford said. "We're saying, 'Don't do it. Stand for what you believe. Vote for your values, vote for Mike.' "

The Republican presidential race in Texas has drawn far less attention than the Democrats' continued close contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. Both parties hold their primaries the same day.

Early voting by Republicans has been about a third of what it has been in the Democratic primary so far among the state's 15 most populous counties, according to the Texas Secretary of State's Office. Early ballots can be cast through Friday.

Besides the presidential race, there are few other statewide GOP primary races attracting voter attention.

Cornyn faces only token opposition against consultant Larry Kilgore in his Senate re-election bid. Cornyn is the almost certain to face one of the Democratic contenders, state Rep. Rick Noriega, school teacher Ray McMurrey or perennial candidates Gene Kelly and Rhett Smith.

[bdrlnt4rl]

it will be a dem term

romney was smart enough to figure that out

it will be obama

[Ruidu]

The GOP and McCain have risen to the level of their incompetence!

[bdrlnt4rl]

#1 we are talking about arkansas people. of course they will vote for someone like huck.

he is hoping for a miracle. that is fine and dandy. put people leave the race because they do the math or want to unify the party because it is so messed up right now.

paul is still in the race, his odds just as slim as hucks. but he is not quitting either.

besides, huck is not proving he is not a quitter, he is proving he is not a unifier. lets split the party and brainwash my followers that i am not a quitter.

we need a real pres, but we will not have one this term. maybe next term someone will step up to the plate and fix what has been messed up.

huck says he may have a slip of the tongue, but it is not a slip of his character. well, he is a preacher, and he should know that the bible teaches that your tongue is your character.

but then again, he is a typical hypocrit preacher.

newsbreak..... pres huckabee steps on a cricket while meeting with the monks in china and says ''''i do not know what they believe''''

he knows what he is saying and how to say it to be the sly snake from the hills of arkansas.

people are just too blind to see it

people wants signs, look at all the tornados that have brought great death and distruction to the states that support huck. i hope ohio and texas vote other.

[reuelt]

Huckabee''s power base is much wider than conservatives. Just ask Arkansas voters since he was a Governor there for more than 10 years.

Don''t believe the McCain campaign lies and spins. He has already spent $50M (FEC limit for primary is $54M maximum) and is trying to cheat by exceeding that limit. More advertisment money will not spead truth.

Check Huckabee out. True gold is not afaid to be tested.
He must be a "Whitewashed Sepulche" if he dared not debate Huckabee.

Huckabee for GOP nomination & President.

[caliengineer]

Huckabee is the only candidate with solid leadership experience. Gringo Obama is a talking puppet for the globalists. Who, exactly, is giving him so much cash... I mean besides his Muslim support from Africa (whatever happened to THAT story, btw?

[caliengineer]

Texans: Call all your friends and relatives! Vote Huckabee!

Get out and keep this campaign alive. Start a fire in Texas!

[bdrlnt4rl]

ya, just like the rest of them, including the typical preacher, they like to spend people gift money and have fun and enjoy the ride while doing it. that is why he is not dropping out of the race. the miracle is that he will stay in and get more money so his wife can stay in more hooters hotels and travel the country without worrying whose babies mouth is not going to get fed because some poor american is donating to a failed cause.

that is why he is not dropping out.

[ianlou]

"Huckabee Woos Texas Social Conservatives"

Isn''t it the Texas Social Conservatives we can thank for originally firing up the locomotive that has become the George W. Bush National and International Train Wreck?

[bdrlnt4rl]

a debate would be good. i would love to see one. would not help huck much. it is obvious the majority of the people think he is a fake. i think being a typical hypocrit preach ruined it for him. there are only a few that are still brainwashed by his evil preacher ways.

maybe if preachers practiced what the preach they would be more trusted.

[caliengineer]

I would love to see a debate! McCain will attempt to avoid it. Huckabee is a far better candidate. In previous campaigns, after the majority of candidates quit, the machine vastly ignored Huckabee. McCain''s reference to "the other 16" debates is a laugh. Those gave each man a few comments. In the smaller debates, Huckabee was ignored - afraid of what he will say: the IRS needs to go, the Federal Reserve is raping - yes, raping - the United States taxpayer. We must put heavy pressure on McCain to debate: or he will avoid it.