Buy the line that Mike Huckabee could only win in Iowa because of the Evangelicals and that he has been playing identity politics with Christians? I live in Iowa. My precinct chose Huckabee fourth behind Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Fred Thompson. And yet Huckabee came out on top with a big tent: the working poor, females, Evangelicals, fair-taxers, and social conservatives along with some looking toward our domestic agenda. Michael Medved writes:
Predictably enough, most media commentators have totally misinterpreted the nature of Mike Huckabee’s big win in the Iowa GOP caucuses. Conventional wisdom says that he swept to victory based on overwhelming support from Evangelicals, but conventional wisdom is flat-out wrong. According to the exit polls used by major news networks, a majority of voters who described themselves as “evangelical” or “born again” Christians actually voted against Huckabee…
I agree with Medved’s commentary. As I returned home after Thursday’s vote I turned on the news and heard person after person say how amazed they were that there were so many evangelicals in Iowa. They based their amazement on the fact that Huckabee won by such a large margin. They should have considered the possibility that many people voted for him for reasons other than his religious conservatism. Myself and and many others I know are in this camp.
I don’t think it was an easy oversight due to lazy thinking, but rather an effort to pidgeon Huckabee and his voters planting the seed of caution and doubt in future voters minds. There is a lack of integrity among many of the news reporters, both conservative and liberal.
Mike