Huckabee Mining SC's Fetus-Fanatic Vote

(WOMENSENEWS)--As the contest for the Republican presidential
nomination turns toward South Carolina, religious conservatives are
torn between three staunch opponents of abortion: the anti-choice
establishment choice Fred Thompson, comeback candidate John McCain and
grassroots evangelical favorite, Mike Huckabee.

Except for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, all the Republican
presidential candidates oppose abortion.

The National Right to Life Committee in Wa****ngton, D.C., gave its
endorsement last year to Thompson--the former senator from Tennessee
who appeared more viable when he entered the race last September--and
many state affiliates followed suit.

Grassroots activists and voters in South Carolina, which holds a
critical primary election on Jan. 19 in the heart of the Bible Belt,
are bucking the establishment choice in light of surprise developments
on the campaign trail.

Once considered unelectable, Huckabee, the Arkansas Baptist minister
who got his start in politics lobbying for an anti-abortion law and
pulled an upset victory in last week's Iowa caucuses, is now vying with
McCain, who triumphed in the Jan. 8 New Hamp****re primary, for
frontrunner status in South Carolina.

McCain leads the GOP primary electorate in South Carolina with 27
percent of the vote, three points higher than Huckabee, according to a
Jan. 9 poll of 785 likely Republican primary voters conducted by
Rasmussen Re****ts. Thompson placed fourth with 12 percent of the vote,
four points behind Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Huckabee Holds Polling Edge

However, Huckabee continues to hold a slight edge in national surveys,
according to Rasmussen Re****ts. But he faces stiff competition from
McCain, Romney and Giuliani in Michigan's Jan. 15 primary, Nevada's
Jan. 19 primary, and Florida's Jan. 29 primary.

South Carolina Citizens for Life, the state's leading anti-choice
organization, has endorsed Thompson, but smaller anti-choice groups,
grassroots activists and voters are giving their sup****t to Huckabee,
according to David Woodard, a pollster and professor of political
science at Clemson University in South Carolina.

Huckabee, meanwhile, has the backing of anti-choice religious pregnancy
counseling centers and regular church-goers, who comprise the vast
majority of the GOP primary electorate, Woodard said.

"If that's the Religious Right, that's who he's connecting with,"
Woodard said.

Laura Woliver, a professor of political science at the University of
South Carolina in Columbia, cautioned against counting out McCain, who
is enjoying a modest electoral bounce after his surprise victory in New
Hamp****re and whose emphasis on national security plays well with the
state's large military constituency.

McCain faced resistance from anti-choice voters in his 2000 bid for the
GOP nod because of his sup****t for campaign finance laws that forced
the producers of "issue ads"--such as those attacking politicians for
not opposing abortion--to disclose contributors and potentially expose
their connections to political parties.

Huckabee is the "candidate to beat" among anti-choice voters, Woliver
said. "He speaks their language."

Visits Pregnancy Center

Huckabee courted anti-choice and religious conservative voters
Wednesday during a trip to South Carolina, where he highlighted his
opposition to abortion with a visit to the Carolina Pregnancy Center, a
religious organization in Spartanburg that counsels pregnant women
against abortion, and in speeches in Spartanburg and Greenville.

Huckabee, however, is still contending with the early endorsement of
Thompson by established anti-choice groups. Holly Gatling, executive
director of South Carolina Citizens for Life, says it gives Thompson
"enthusiastic backing."

Woodard said the outcome of the primary will likely ripple across the
South, which tends to follow South Carolina's lead. The victor will
also head into "Super Tuesday" on Feb. 5, when more than 20 states hold
their nominating contests, with considerable momentum.

The prospect makes pro-choice groups shudder.

As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee backed numerous restrictions on
abortion, including a ban on a specific procedure used after the 12th
week of pregnancy. He has also sup****ted laws requiring minors to
receive parental consent before having an abortion and ordering
physicians to tell pregnant women fetuses experience pain during
abortion.

During his campaign, Huckabee has called for the repeal of Roe v. Wade,
the 1973 ruling that decriminalized abortion, and said he sup****ts a
constitutional amendment stating that life begins at conception, which
would establish legal rights for embryos and fetuses.

"Mike Huckabee's win in the Iowa caucuses means there could be a
presidential nominee who is arguably more anti-choice than even
President Bush," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice
America. "We cannot afford another four years of Bush-style anti-choice
politics."

In 1998, Huckabee signed a full-page advertisement in USA Today
endorsing the Southern Baptist Convention's stance that women should
graciously submit to their husbands. He has also said he opposes
placing women in combat because it conflicts with his traditional views
about proper treatment of women.

Female Appointments

Genevieve Wood, a cultural analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a think
tank in Wa****ngton, D.C., defended Huckabee's record and noted that he
appointed a number of women to prominent positions in state government.

"Mike Huckabee's wife has run for state office, and he endorsed her,"
she said during a roundtable discussion last month on "To the
Contrary," a television show on PBS about women's issues. "Obviously he
does not think women have to stay home, or that women can't work, that
women can't have children and a career."

Michelle Bernard, president of the Independent Women's Forum, a
Wa****ngton think tank that promotes free market policies, chimed in:
"This is not a man who is anti-women."

However, Carrie Lukas, an economics analyst at the Independent Women's
Forum, describes Huckabee as an economic liberal with a vision of
bigger government. "When it comes to domestic policies, that's not
where Republican women want the country to go."

As governor, Huckabee raised the minimum wage, increased taxes to pay
for government expansion of health care and other programs, and
tightened regulation of business.

He is the only Republican candidate who opposed President Bush's veto
last year of the proposed expansion of the State Children's Health
Insurance Program, which would have expanded health coverage for
children by increasing taxes on tobacco products. And he opposes steep
welfare cuts.

"As an individual, I don't sup****t him because he is a taxer," said
Michelle Easton, president of the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, an
advocacy group in Herndon, Va., that trains young women to enter
politics.

Copyright 2007 Women's eNews. 
                                 *
=================================================================
 NY Transfer News Collective     *    A Service of Blythe Systems
           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
            Our main website:   http://www.blythe.org
   List Archives:       http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
   Subscribe:     http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (FreeBSD)

iD8DBQFHh8NYiz2i76ou9wQRAmmHAJ4v/gY9LJSsmexkIPoQxufyiIFhIACfUO0J
VmImnFsLksnaWhP6e+7S2Rs=
=Qlwm
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----