{"id":17,"date":"2007-10-25T07:13:43","date_gmt":"2007-10-25T07:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/castingstones\/2007\/10\/an-evangelical-for-mitt-chimes.html"},"modified":"2007-10-25T07:13:43","modified_gmt":"2007-10-25T07:13:43","slug":"an-evangelical-for-mitt-chimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/castingstones\/2007\/10\/an-evangelical-for-mitt-chimes.html","title":{"rendered":"An Evangelical for Mitt Chimes in on Huckabee"},"content":{"rendered":"

PR big shot Mark DeMoss<\/a>, one of Mitt Romney’s most powerful and active evangelical backers<\/a>, is well suited to join today’s debate on whether Christian Right leaders are forsaking the evangelical grassroots by declining to support Mike Huckabee<\/a>. After all, DeMoss’s clients<\/a> include Franklin Graham<\/a>, and Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship<\/a>.
\nHere’s how DeMoss handled a few Huckabee questions on the phone Wednesday morning:
\nAre you worried that Mike Huckabee, with his ecstatic reception at the Values Voter Summit last weekend and his strong showing in recent Iowa polls, threatens Mitt Romney\u2019s claim on \u201cvalues voters?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Huckabee is arguably the best orator in the field, the best speaker. But what apparently wins campaigns and elections is organization, which involves money and staff and television time and field offices and field organizers and volunteer strength. To suggest that [Huckabee\u2019s] showing at one conference suggests a surging campaign needs to be backed up with evidence of strength in other areas. That wasn\u2019t Huckabee\u2019s first good speech\u2014he\u2019s been doing it everywhere he goes\u2026. But the last tallies I saw, Ron Paul has raised three times more than Huckabee and Brownback raised about twice as much and he\u2019s out of the race. We\u2019re not electing a champion orator. It would be difficult to run a country if you cannot run a major league campaign.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It sounds like you\u2019re telling Christian voters to use their heads over their hearts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Use them both, but don\u2019t just use your heart. If a conservative evangelical just used his heart they might vote for Alan Keyes. And if you want to talk about oratory skills, a lot of people would say Keyes is the best orator.
\nPeople can complain and say the presidential campaign is too long, it started too early, that the primaries are packed too tightly. But the winning candidate has to know how to do it. Part of becoming president is being able to make a case that makes people want to give you money. If you can\u2019t manage a staff of 150 or 200 people and a handful of regional offices and recruit volunteers and raise money, I don\u2019t know how you manage the government with a 3 trillion dollar budget and a couple million employees.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So viability is the most important consideration?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Huckabee has a fair complaint when he says if all the people who say they like me but don\u2019t think I\u2019m viable would support me, I\u2019d be viable<\/em>. However, I\u2019m not in the category of people who is not supporting Huckabee because I don\u2019t think he\u2019s viable. I just don\u2019t think he\u2019s the most qualified to be president. To me, Mitt Romney is not the lesser of a group of evils. He\u2019s my choice, the person I\u2019d like to be president.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

DeMoss laid out his rationale for backing Romney in a recent letter<\/a> to scores of Christian conservatives. To hear him tell it, the Christian Right brass is actually being principled in withholding support from Huckabee because it is resisting the siren song of identity politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PR big shot Mark DeMoss, one of Mitt Romney’s most powerful and active evangelical backers, is well suited to join today’s debate on whether Christian Right leaders are forsaking the evangelical grassroots by declining to support Mike Huckabee. After all, DeMoss’s clients include Franklin Graham, and Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship. Here’s how DeMoss handled a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAn Evangelical for Mitt Chimes in on Huckabee - Casting Stones<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/castingstones\/2007\/10\/an-evangelical-for-mitt-chimes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Evangelical for Mitt Chimes in on Huckabee - Casting Stones\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PR big shot Mark DeMoss, one of Mitt Romney’s most powerful and active evangelical backers, is well suited to join today’s debate on whether Christian Right leaders are forsaking the evangelical grassroots by declining to support Mike Huckabee. 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