Huckabee sees 'new life' in presidential bid after Iowa straw poll

The former Arkansas governor who came in second in the contest last weekend told reporters at a Monitor breakfast that his campaign has signed up 1,000 new contributions and scheduled 16 new fundraisers.

from the August 17, 2007 edition

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The mood among the evangelical community is different than in previous national elections, Huckabee said. "There are a lot of issues people still care a lot about … but I don't think we are as clearly polarized, for example in the community of faith, as we once were where it is all about one or two issues. In fact, I think there has been somewhat of a maturing process among particularly Evangelicals."

Huckabee described the change as "a new sense that if you really are going to say I am applying my faith to the world in which I live, that has to include concerns about the environment, it has to include concerns about poverty and hunger; it can't just be about abortion and same sex marriage. It is not that there is sort of a softening or a weakening on the convictions regarding those issues. But that is not enough."

The proper role of the federal government is one area where Huckabee said he disagrees with the Bush White House. "I tend to see things from a governor's perspective – that states should maintain a great deal more authority and the federal government a lot less. I am truly a Jeffersonian when it comes to that. And I think, if anything, this administration has troubled me most in that it is more Hamiltonian than it is Jeffersonian."

During his 10 years as governor, "My conflicts often with the White House were over the basis of 10th Amendment issues." That amendment provides that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, belong to the states. "Jefferson was, in fact, right that the ideal is strong states and a relatively weak centralized federal government, not the other way around," Huckabee added.

Pressed for areas where the federal government has encroached on the states, Huckabee said he was concerned about efforts to have a federal identification card or a national health program that did not offer "freedom for innovation" from the states. He also said overuse of the National Guard by the federal government "is problematic."

One way Huckabee tries to differentiate himself from the eight other announced or unannounced Republican presidential candidates is by calling himself a Main Street Republican as opposed to what he terms a Wall Street Republican. And he talks about the lasting impact of growing up in modest circumstances.

"I have shopped the aisles of Wal-Mart. I have lived that life. If you grew up in a household, as I did, where you are told to eat everything on your plate because you are really not sure there will be a plateful tomorrow, if you truly understand what it means to scratch it out to get an education because you see in your own family what the lack of an education means…. And there is no trust fund, no savings account to fall back on … you have just a different perspective about life than if there is really no sense that you can fall and get hurt."

After starting the day in Washington with a roomful of print reporters, the candidate was slated to travel to a much funnier place, the New York City studios of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." "For those of you who are religious, please pray for me," Huckabee said about appearing on the program. Stephen Colbert's wildly popular program features interviews where the guest usually comes out second best.

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