Conservatives Pray Huckabee Can Prevent a Third Straight Loss to the Establishment
Evangelicals know what they did wrong the last two cycles. But the mainstream's candidates may not be the patsies of the past.
On Saturday night, Mike Huckabee answered the hopes and literal prayers of countless evangelical conservatives and pastors. He ended his Fox News show, explaining that it was time for him to “gauge support” for a presidential run.
“Most Iowa Republicans have been expecting this for two years,” says Jamie Johnson, a pastor and broadcaster who served as former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum’s Iowa coalitions director in 2012. “There’s a large group of Iowans who were heartbroken when he didn’t run in 2012. It’s very personal, what Mike Huckabee has with them, and it can’t be quantified. It’s almost a spiritual thing. I think it has to do with their Christian faith and the fact that he has been a pastor.”