This morning on Tucker, Charmaine Yoest said, approximately:
People are talking about endorsements from the Christian movement. and if they are not reporting at all that Don Wildeman, the founder of the American Family Association, a heavyweight on the Christian right that he came out this week for Huckabee. and people are not talking about that.
Well. Let me talk about it and put it in some context. Wildeman is also the founder and leader of the Arlington Group. A phenomenal get. But not the only one.
Friday, a bunch of Southern Baptist leaders endorsed Mike Huckabee. Now, Huckabee is a Southern Baptist pastor, so this might not seem surprising, but Huckabee is on the moderate side of the SBC world. As one friend put it, "this is the SBC version of Brad Smith endorsing John McCain." This is about people who have historical grievances with Huckabee lining up behind him.
And who is this Yoest person praising Huckabee and telling people about his great get? She is the communications director for the Family Research Council, the advocacy arm of the James Dobson media empire.
Oh yeah. And the American Spectator and Jonathan Martin are reporting that Dobson is going to endorse Huckabee. And one of his communications underlings is praising Huckabee. And independent sources at FRC confirmed the story to me, but say that the Mitt Romney supporters at FRC are fighting it. Indeed, Paul Weyrich and some others are denying it.
That sounds like a consolidation of the religious right in a way that could be worth a good 5-10% in places like Iowa and South Carolina. And in Iowa, Huckabee is in 2nd, and this kind of thing could include votes coming out of Romney’s hide. In South Carolina, it is less clear, but it seems likely that it would come out of the hides of both Romney and Fred Thompson.
Earlier on, I said that it seemed that the religious right had dated Mitt Romney, but decided to marry Fred Thompson. It appears that I spoke to soon. It seems that Fred might have jilted them at the altar, and they found a new person.
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FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog · November 11, 2007 at 4:48 PM
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Team Romney distracted by early-state poll numbers as Huckabee quietly “consolidates” religious right « who is willard milton romney? · November 11, 2007 at 10:01 PM
[…] Nov 11, 2007 in 2008, Evangelicals, GOP, analysis, campaign communications, campaign communiques, campaign literature, campaign management, conservatism, election, election 2008, mitt romney, republicans, romney, the dark soul of Mitt RomneyTags: eye, eyeon08.com, Fred Thompson, governor mike huckabee, Iowa …” And who is this Yoest person praising Huckabee and telling people about his great get?”—asks eye of eyeon08.com in post titled Huckabee consolidates the religious right She is the communications director for the Family Research Council, the advocacy arm of the James Dobson media empire. […]
The Right’s Field » Dobson to Endorse Huckabee? · November 12, 2007 at 11:47 AM
[…] We can go into all the reasons why conservative evangelicals in general, and James Dobson in particular, have been losing influence within the GOP. But a Dobson endorsement would still be huge for Huckabee. As Soren Dayton explains, Huckabee has been solidifying his support among the Christian right — including picking up a key endorsement from Southern Baptist leaders on Friday — and getting Dobson in his camp could make him a genuine force to be reckoned with: That sounds like a consolidation of the religious right in a way that could be worth a good 5-10% in places like Iowa and South Carolina. And in Iowa, Huckabee is in 2nd, and this kind of thing could include votes coming out of Romney’s hide. In South Carolina, it is less clear, but it seems likely that it would come out of the hides of both Romney and Fred Thompson. […]
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