{"id":3,"date":"2008-02-06T19:19:34","date_gmt":"2008-02-06T19:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/02\/why-did-romney-cost-huck-the-n.html"},"modified":"2008-02-06T19:19:34","modified_gmt":"2008-02-06T19:19:34","slug":"why-did-romney-cost-huck-the-n","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/02\/why-did-romney-cost-huck-the-n.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Did Romney Cost Huck the Nomination?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been reading various conservative blog posts<\/a> on whether Huckabee cost Romney the nomination. Why isn\u2019t the question posed the other way around? Why aren\u2019t conservative anti-McCainiacs complaining that Romney cost Huckabee the nomination?
\nBased on market performance, Huckabee is clearly the better candidate. Having spent a fraction of the money, he\u2019s won almost as many states as Romney. While Romney became conservative in the last year, Huckabee has been conservative his whole life. He has more experience in government, is more articulate, and a better campaigner.
\nSo why is there this complete assumption that if any one of them had an obligation to leave it was Huckabee? First, a lot of conservative religious leaders simply didn\u2019t like Huckabee. Some of this is based in ancient history. During the battle to take over the Southern Baptist Convention in Arkansas, Huckabee was viewed as being on the \u201cmoderate\u201d side (though he was plenty conservative). Many religious right leaders never forgave him.
\nSecond, the Conservative Media Establishment really is far more concerned with economic issues than values issues. When push comes to shove, Rush Limbaugh cares more about taxes and immigration than abortion. Huckabee is viewed as soft on taxes, which apparently is more important than being strong on oppositing abortion. So much for the holocaust of the unborn.
\nThe more cynical interpretation is that values voters have gotten a peek at the true priorities of the conservative establishment, which wanted evangelical votes but, when forced to choose, simply didn\u2019t view the values issues as paramount. Every time I hear one of the anti-Huckabee conservative say Huckabee isn\u2019t a serious candidate, I wonder what really is making them say that. Do they think he\u2019s unserious because deep down, they really don\u2019t think banning abortion is all that important? Is this one of those rip-off-the-mask moments when values voters get to look into the eyes of their conservative allies and see what\u2019s in their souls?
\nIf this theory is true \u2013 that they unfairly dissed Huckabee because of cultural arrogance \u2013 then in the way of karma, they\u2019re getting their just reward: the nomination of their number one nemesis, John McCain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been reading various conservative blog posts on whether Huckabee cost Romney the nomination. Why isn\u2019t the question posed the other way around? Why aren\u2019t conservative anti-McCainiacs complaining that Romney cost Huckabee the nomination? Based on market performance, Huckabee is clearly the better candidate. Having spent a fraction of the money, he\u2019s won almost as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Did Romney Cost Huck the Nomination? - Steven Waldman<\/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\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/02\/why-did-romney-cost-huck-the-n.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Did Romney Cost Huck the Nomination? - Steven Waldman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve been reading various conservative blog posts on whether Huckabee cost Romney the nomination. Why isn\u2019t the question posed the other way around? Why aren\u2019t conservative anti-McCainiacs complaining that Romney cost Huckabee the nomination? Based on market performance, Huckabee is clearly the better candidate. 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He's also the author of the Founding Faith: Politics, Providence, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America, which has been published by Random House. Before co-founding Beliefnet in 1999, Waldman was a political journalist, serving as National Editor of U.S. News & World Report and National Correspondent for Newsweek. 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