The new 30-second ad that Mike Huckabee has put on the air in Iowa represents a quite remarkable step in presidential politics. Maybe my memory betrays me, but I don't recall a major presidential candidate who made such an unabashed, unambiguous appeal for support on the basis of religious faith. Huckabee, of course, is an ordained Baptist minister. And according to some estimates, roughly half of the attendees at the Iowa Republican caucuses will be Christian conservatives.
The Huckabee ad, entitled "Believe," begins with Huckabee's emphasis on the importance of his faith. "Faith doesn't just influence me," he says. "It really defines me." A few seconds later, the words "Christian Leader" are emblazoned on the screen. Even TV evangelist Pat Robertson, a leader in the emergence of Christian conservatives as a major bloc in Republican politics, didn't appeal to voters with such a strong emphasis on his personal religious faith when he ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988 - and finished second in Iowa.
What's striking is that it's not until the end of the Huckabee ad that the words "Authentic Conservative" pop up on the screen. As a result, I don't think it's a stretch to say that, at least in this ad, Huckabee has made his political views secondary to his religious beliefs. Perhaps this is what Christian conservatives in Iowa want to hear. But Huckabee may be risking a backlash.
For one thing, the mainstream media that has covered his presidential bid lovingly may be turned off. Reporters tend to be intensely secular. And so may Republican voters who think a candidate's political views, not his religious faith, should be front and center. Then there's New Hampshire, an unusually secular state whose first-in-the-nation primary comes five days after the Iowa caucuses are held on January 3. It's not likely to be fertile ground for Huckabee.
The former Arkansas governor is concentrating his entire campaign on Iowa, where he aims to defeat Mitt Romney, the current favorite, or come in a strong second. Either of those outcomes would keep his campaign alive until the South Carolina primary on January 22. Huckabee surely won't air the "Believe" ad in New Hampshire. But we may see it again in South Carolina, a Bible Belt state, absent a backlash from its airing in Iowa.
