Clarence Page said:
The former Arkansas governor's recent surge in Iowa polls has wiped the smile from his fellow Republican presidential candidates' lips.
My thought: we don't need another Arkansas governor in the White House.
Strike one.
Of the likely Republican caucusgoers surveyed, Huckabee scored 29 percent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney scored 24 percent and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani scored 13 percent.
Grist for the media and hype mills, it's early yet. Ball one.
Like Carter, Huckabee appears to have found his votes or, more accurately, his votes have found him. Conservative evangelicals are starting to gravitate toward Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister.
A guy who has mixed, in his professional life, both religion and politics successfully. Not convinced that what sells in Little Rock will sell in 49 other state capitals. Ball two, just missed the corner.
Huckabee's the kind of guy who a lot of people would like to go to prayer meetings with. Conservative evangelicals have played a critical role in Republican successes in recent years, especially for President Bush, who proudly put himself forth in 2000 as one of their own.
As if anyone hadn't noticed . . .
(Pitcher stepped off the mound to grab package and spit.)
As a minister and politician, Huckabee has actually counseled and worked with poor and working-class families.
What else has he done? (Pitcher goes into stretch.)
He's thrown down a gauntlet against the budget-slashers who want to cut services to the poor as a first resort, not the last.
Seems a reasonable position. (Stolen Base!)
He also was a courageous voice of reason amid the anti-immigrant feeding frenzy during the latest GOP debate. We should not punish the children of illegal immigrants, he correctly argued, for something that their parents did.
Ah, it's OK to illegally immigrate, since "it's for the children." Sorry, that dog won't hunt.
Strike Two.
Unfortunately, part of Huckabee's support appears to be coming his way for a very troubling reason: religious bias. Romney, as everyone must know by now, is a Mormon. For months, polls have shown Romney's religion to be a bigger handicap for him with voters than Hillary Rodham Clinton's gender or Barack Obama's race. I attribute that gap to the public's widespread ignorance about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Christopher Hitchens would be so proud. (Manager walks to mound. More spitting.)
I have heard respectable Christian ministers declare on national television that Mormons are not members of a "religion" but of a "cult." That erroneous put-down reminds me of author Tom Wolfe's observation: A "cult" is a religion that lacks political clout
.
Wolfe seems to have that one figured out. (Pitcher and catcher converse.)
We don't need to see any more sectarian divisions in American politics. We've seen too much ugliness from race cards, religion cards, ethnicity cards and gender cards already.
You are right, Clarence, but I suspect we'll get it, anyway, since confrontation seems to sell. Ever heard of Code Pink? Sure you have. Why? Confrontational style.
Ball three.
In beating back the demon of religious prejudice, Huckabee should give Romney help, not for the sake of either of their campaigns, but for the good of our country.
That is as likely to happen as observant Muslims eating bacon with their eggs and scallops for brunch, all washed down with champagne.
Strike three, he's outta there.
DR
This was an attempt to smear Clinton? 
