Mike Huckabee’s campaign rolls on, though he seems either unwilling or unable to branch out beyond his Religious Right base of support:
Huckabee surprised by winning the Iowa caucus, but has little money and finished a distant fourth in Florida.
The former Arkansas governor and Baptist preacher was in Newport Beach for a fundraiser at a supporter’s home before traveling to Los Angeles for an Americans of Faith event and to Simi Valley for the GOP presidential debate.
Americans of Faith, which seems to be going by the name Operation Vote nowadays, was founded back in 2004 to register and mobilize 5 million Christian voters by Jay Sekulow, who just so happens to be Chair of Romney’s Faith and Values Steering Committee, as well as a member of Romney’s Advisory Committee On The Constitution And The Courts.
The Passion of the Religious Conservatives
1 May 2004
National JournalSeveral prominent evangelical-movement leaders, as well as businessmen, social conservatives, and other like-minded believers, have put together ambitious voter-registration efforts that aim to get the Christian faithful to the polls on Election Day. Though nominally nonpartisan, these “ground- war” efforts are expected to benefit Republicans far more than Democrats because of such hot-button issues for conservatives as gay marriage and abortion.
One effort is being run by Americans of Faith, a Virginia-based tax-exempt group that is co-chaired by Bush fundraising “Pioneer” Edward Atsinger, who is president of Salem Communications, the nation’s largest Christian radio broadcaster; and Jay Alan Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit launched by Pat Robertson that champions religious causes.
“I’ve been talking about this for the last 10 years,” Sekulow said. “Evangelicals haven’t been good participants in elections. We’re talking about Christian civic participation.” Americans of Faith hopes to raise about $800,000 and will use the Internet, Christian radio, and music festivals, as well as churches and other venues, to try to reach its goal of registering 2 million new voters from the conservative Christian community in time for the November election.
Giving extra firepower to evangelicals, the group’s board includes such well-known leaders as Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council in Washington, and Frank Wright, the head of the National Religious Broadcasters.
According to a 2004 Talon News article, Americans of Faith’s Board of Directors includes, in addition to Sekulow and Perkins, the likes of Richard Land, Mike Farris, and David Barton.
While Farris has endorsed Huckabee and Barton has been sharing the stage with him in recent weeks, Land and Perkins have been conspicuously cold toward his campaign – and considering that the organization’s founder is a key backer of Huckabee’s main rival, it is odd that Huckabee would be invited to address an Americans of Faith event, especially since the longer he stays in the race, the more damage he does to Romney.
