But what about Huckabee?

By MARSHA MERCER
Media General News Service
Friday, November 09, 2007

Try this on for size: President Huckabee.

Sure, it's a funny name, only a consonant or two from Huckleberry, and it's weird to imagine another Arkansas governor, another man from Hope, occupying the Oval Office.

And yet, some people are taking a second look at the candidates, even Huckabee.

On the Democratic side, several polls suggest Hillary Clinton is vulnerable in the general election because of her high negatives. Fifty-five percent of married men say they definitely won't vote for her, according to the latest USA Today-Gallup Poll.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said the other day that any of the five top GOP contenders could beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in November. That's former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and Huckabee.

That sounds preposterous as Huckabee lags most surveys of Republican voters' preferences. But wait.

"He's a great speaker," Bush told the Dallas Morning News. "And I like governors. He's got a good sense of humor."

Jeb Bush hasn't endorsed anyone and says he won't. But with the first votes of the primary season finally just two months away, other potential GOP influencers are taking sides.

Televangelist Pat Robertson shocked a lot of people when he endorsed Giuliani, who makes the religious right break out in hives. Robertson ignored Giuliani's support of abortion rights and gay rights and said he is "without question an acceptable candidate."

OK, it was hardly a rave review, but here's the clincher:

"I think we do want a front-runner from the Republican Party who can win the general election," Robertson said.

While many argue that Robertson isn't the power he once was, his endorsement was gold for Giuliani, who needed something to rebut critics. The evangelist inoculates Giuliani with some Christian conservatives who wonder if a Catholic who doesn't attend Mass and has been married three times is the best their party can do in the way of role models. Robertson's endorsement has the potential of alienating moderates, but Giuliani will take that risk.

Poor Romney had also courted Robertson. Sounding peevish, Romney said he didn't think the Republican Party would choose "a pro-choice, pro-gay civil union candidate" to lead it.

Romney would have been happy with a tepid endorsement. He has had to be satisfied with faint praise indeed from Bob Jones III, chancellor of Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., a man who makes no secret that he considers Romney's religion a cult.

"I am totally opposed to the doctrines of Mormonism," Jones told The Greenville News last month. "But I am not voting for a preacher. I'm voting for a president."

And, when the paper asked whether Romney's religion was a stumbling block, Jones replied, "What is the alternative -- Hillary's lack of religion or an erroneous religion?"

Moral Majority co-founder Paul Weyrich also has endorsed Romney, telling the National Review that he thought the GOP nomination was between Giuliani and Romney. If Giuliani wins, hardcore "values voters" would stay home on Election Day 2008, Weyrich predicted, even if Clinton is on the ballot.

In the spirit of second looks, McCain, given up for dead a few months ago, now touts his "Resurgence." Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, who saw himself as the next president until last month, endorsed McCain, saying that he's "from Washington but not of it." No matter that McCain is in his 20th year in the Senate.

And, Brownback said, McCain is "the most pro-life candidate that can beat Hillary Clinton in the fall."

He also said McCain has "the full package" of foreign policy and anti-abortion experience. McCain was so grateful he referred to Brownback as his running mate, then caught himself and said he hasn't picked one yet.

McCain's Web site has a flashy map showing 14 states where he would outperform Giuliani in a contest with Clinton. "John McCain is the guy who can beat Hillary Clinton," an announcer says urgently.

Not so fast, says Mike Huckabee, who brags that, "Nobody knows Hillary better than me."

He told Roger Simon of Politico, "The Clintons campaigned for my opponents four times, and I won. When people talk about who can beat Hillary, I say I already have."

And Huckabee is a Southern Baptist minister.

(Marsha Mercer is Washington bureau chief for Media General News Service. E-mail mmercer(at)mediageneral.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com)