With A Lack of Money, Huckabee Uses Informal Means to Build Support
AUBURN HILLS, MICH. -– Mike Huckabee has no official campaign office in Michigan, no paid staffers who've been here for months on the ground, only volunteers. His ad buy here is still dwarfed by Mitt Romney's singular, crushing devotion of money and resources to the state. So, visiting conservative areas with large evangelical communities, Huckabee is using the little time he has to actively court leadership within informal religious networks, the same kind that fueled his win in the Iowa caucus.
Saturday morning in Grand Rapids, at a breakfast meeting with over a hundred local pastors, Huckabee told them he didn't "presume…that you automatically support me because I am of a common faith…Having been in the faith community for as long as I have, I assume [you] probably aren't. I know that I have to earn that."
Huckabee said the approaching election marks a "turning point" in which the issue of "life" could be "in balance." He drew applause when he spoke of passing a human life amendment, which he described as a moral issue and not a political issue.
"Abraham Lincoln said, if slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. It would be fair to say that if taking a life of a innocent human being is not wrong, then nothing is wrong," said Huckabee.
He also extolled the importance of family and the partnership of marriage "the basic form of government…created before there was a church, created before there was a civil government, that was the beginning point of all organization and structure…Once we overturn that, and it unravels, we can rest assured that the organizations and the societies that were built upon it will unravel with it."
At the end of the nearly hour-long event focusing on values issues, Huckabee said, "I know you have sermons to preach tomorrow, offerings to collect. Between now and Tuesday, I would like to ask you to mobilize in every way possible every single human being that you know, the network of friends across the state, not just in the Grand Rapids area but across Michigan, and ask them to mobilize their people. It's the basic principles I think all of us learned in Evangelism. It's not about addition, it's about multiplication. Give a list of ten, ask them to give a list of ten, to give a list of ten, to give a list of ten. Ask people to multiply, and get to the polls. Take a stand."
Although Huckabee is encouraging pastors to use their influence in personal networks, not their church ones, to secure votes, the incentive to mobilize and multiply is starting to blur an already complex dynamic between politics and religion on the Huckabee campaign trail.
On Sunday, Huckabee took the unusual step of incorporating parts of his campaign speech into a ten-minute delivery (not a sermon) he gave to a church congregation in Michigan.
"For me the sanctity of human life is not about a political issue, it is a moral issue," said Huckabee to a congregation of hundreds. "It comes down to whether or not we believe that God is the author of a human life, and if he is, then none of us have a right to infringe upon what God has created and take that life of the innocent. Our country has got to make a tough decision, whether it's going to value human life, or whether it's going to show disrespect to that which has made ... Marriage has historically only meant one thing – it means one man, one woman, relationship for life. It does not mean whatever we want it to mean. And it is our duty to protect it, preserve it, and to pass it on."
He drew sustained applause for these comments. Huckabee has gone to church as many as three times on a Sunday in recent months. Until this point, however, Huckabee has normally only spoken to congregations in ways that actively steer clear of advocating for any particular issues.
Huckabee's Michigan crowds – among the most vibrant ones ever seen on the campaign trail - have surprised even the candidate himself. It is unclear, however, whether the enthusiasm is an indication of real, widespread support in the grassroots or whether the scarcity of trips to Michigan (Huckabee has only had two rallies so far in the state) draws only the most loyal and enthusiastic.
Asked about the importance of informal networks in his Michigan campaign, Huckabee said, "It's not like we can come in and blanket the state with hundreds of thousands of dollars and this incredible blitz of paid personnel. We have to have people who just want to go out there as unpaid foot soldiers and get people out to the polls."
Huckabee also said he was hoping to attract the support of Democrats in the state who share his values.
"A lot of Democrats, for example, who are conservative, who believe the kind of things I talk about, they are Democrats more out of tradition than...philosophical direction. And, there's not an election really they'll have to deal with on Tuesday. And so I hope they will come out and vote for me. A lot of independents, that could be a real party for us."
Huckabee storms through Michigan today, visiting the Detroit Auto Show and two manufacturing facilities. His day is bookended with two rallies, one in the morning and one at night.