Comments on: The Iowa Caucuses http://www.thepaytons.org/essays/considerettes/?p=2293 Conservative commentary served up in bite-sized bits Sat, 05 Jan 2008 02:32:04 +0000 hourly 1 By: Lowell Brown http://www.thepaytons.org/essays/considerettes/?p=2293&cpage=1#comment-2974 Sat, 05 Jan 2008 02:32:04 +0000 http://www.thepaytons.org/essays/considerettes/?p=2293#comment-2974 Doug: The knock on Romney is that he took — or seemed to take– moderate positions when he was running for governor or Massachusetts. I think that is true. I am very sure that if you look at Romney’s actual record as governor, he governed as a pro-life conservative. So there is an issue about him “evolving” (to use a charitable term) from more moderate positions to more conservative ones. But he did not govern as a moderate. And– if you walk too far down that path, you’ll find that Huck actually did govern as a moderate.

Anyway, I am not saying that Evangelicals will never vote for a Mormon. Heck, a lot of them voted for Romney in Iowa. Just saying that MR’s religion was an issue that drove a lot of Evangelical votes toward Huck. My guess is that mostly, Evangelicals who supported Huckabee were voting for him rather than against Romney. But there’s plenty of evidence that a very large chunk of them would have voted for anyone but Mitt. I don’t think there’s much evidence at all that the Evangelical tsunami in Iowa had anything to do with Romney’s change of positions.

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By: Doug Payton http://www.thepaytons.org/essays/considerettes/?p=2293&cpage=1#comment-2972 Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:39:10 +0000 http://www.thepaytons.org/essays/considerettes/?p=2293#comment-2972 First, the Huckabee surge was evident in the polls for quite a while; shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone.

Secondly, and please correct me if I’m wrong, but Romney governed one way in Mass., but now says he’ll govern another way. We don’t have much of a record of this new change of heart, just his word. Reagan had a bit of a record to point to after his change of heart. I’d like to give Romney the benefit of the doubt, but I’d need to see more action on these words.

Frankly, Huckabee is sounding rather conservative these days, so it wouldn’t surprise me that evangelicals go for him. He has a record consistent (mostly) with this, whereas Romney doesn’t, hence my thought that it is indeed generally a policy thing. Now, I’m a little concerned with some of Huck’s ideas that are a bit socialist and big government. One has to listen closely to catch these things, but they’re there. Hence my reluctance to cast my lot with him.

I’m not discounting at all the suggestion that many evangelicals are casting a “safe” vote, so to speak, for Huck. I just think there’s more that needs looking at in that 50% group before we proclaim that Christians will never vote for a Mormon.

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By: Lowell Brown http://www.thepaytons.org/essays/considerettes/?p=2293&cpage=1#comment-2971 Fri, 04 Jan 2008 20:18:14 +0000 http://www.thepaytons.org/essays/considerettes/?p=2293#comment-2971 “Romney’s flip-flopping on hot-button issues like abortion and gay rights likely have more to do with his 2nd place finish than his religion.”

Thanks for the measured tone of your post, but I really don’t know how you can say that. 50% more Evangelicals came out to vote in 2008 than in 2000, and half of them voted for Huck. It was a tsunami that no one — especially Romney — saw coming. If you read the polling data linked to and quoted in our post at Article VI Blog, the notion that “flip-flopping” was the real cause of Romney’s showing has no basis in fact.

By the way, if a politician changes his mind, is that “flip-flopping?” Did Ronald Reagan flip-flop when he changed his mind and was thereafter a totally reliable pro-life ally? How about George H. W. Bush, who ran in 1980 as pro-choice, then switched to a pro-life position after Reagan selected him as a running mate? Bush I never deviated thereafter from his pro-life position.

Is it just possible that Romney’s change of position is a convenient excuse to vote against the Mormon? Just asking the question. At least one prominent Evangelical, a former Huckabee staffer and ongoing supporter, has admitted to us on the record that it is.

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