WSJ on Huckabee and social conservatives

From Laura Meckler and Valerie Bauerlein in the WSJ...

Huckabee Taps Renewed Fervor Of Evangelicals

Evangelical voters, dispirited with their options in the Republican presidential field for much of the year, are feeling new energy and intensity as they flock to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. And with their support, Mr. Huckabee's campaign is soaring to heights that seemed unimaginable just a month ago.

The turnaround is personified by evangelicals Valerie and Larry Domagalski, who waited more than an hour recently to greet Mr. Huckabee after a speech in Greenville, S.C. When they finally got their chance, Mr. Domagalski looked Mr. Huckabee in the eye: "We've been praying for you," he said. "We know this is entirely in God's hands, but we're continuing to pray for you."

Mr. Domagalski, who says he has never been active in politics before, now regularly emails close to 100 friends and colleagues encouraging them to vote for Mr. Huckabee.

Why? Because Huckabee sells himself as a social conservative, he's a Baptist preacher (and therefore the most compelling social conservative), and most social conservatives don't care much if at all about other parts of a more comprehensive "conservative" agenda. Like most other people, those on the Religious Right rarely have a consistent philosophy of government. To be more specific, few RR'ers have taken the time to develop a coherent Christian/biblical worldview and government practices. So, candidates like Huckabee can have considerable appeal-- especially when the other choices are so mixed.

The candidate's quick rise is a vivid demonstration of the power social conservatives continue to wield in Republican politics. It also illustrates the bloc's evolution. Grass-roots churchgoers no longer necessarily follow their national leadership.

Not following the leadership is a mixed bag, although probably a net gain. Leadership also rarely has a more coherent Christian worldview of government. Beyond that, they are typically more concerned with pragmatism-- what works, wanting to spend their political capital on a relatively good candidate that is relatively likely to win.

For much of the 2008 campaign, the clout of evangelicals -- a driving force in Republican politics from Ronald Reagan in 1980 through George W. Bush in 2004 -- appeared to have dwindled. They greeted the party's early leaders in the presidential race -- Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and John McCain -- with ambivalence or even antipathy.

Mr. Huckabee, meanwhile, was regarded as an also-ran. When his poll numbers began taking off just after Thanksgiving, he had few high-profile endorsements, aside from that of TV star Chuck Norris. Now, Mr. Huckabee is the clear leader in Iowa, after trailing Mr. Romney there since the summer, and also leads in South Carolina. Recent national polls show him a close second or even tied with former New York Mayor Giuliani.

In part, this is due to standard voter apathy-- especially in the face of no compelling choices. Presumably, once the buzz for Huckabee reached a critical mass, his support quickly built on itself.

Mr. Huckabee's gains are threatening to shift once again the political balance between evangelicals and the rest of the Republican coalition of social and economic conservatives, Wall Street executives and national-security hawks, whose agendas have come into conflict in recent years.

An ever-present and ever-interesting conundrum...