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Posted at 1:32pm on Oct. 21, 2007 The GOP Conundrum: SoCons like Huckabee, but he's more a threat to the coalition than Rudy

By Erick

As I head back to Georgia after several days in Washington, I've got a few more thoughts on the FRC Action Washington Briefing.

First, John McCain is on his last leg after this. John McCain has been more of a pro-life, pro-family politician than any of the other guys running, save Huckabee. And he lost to Rudy Giuliani in the straw poll. McCain is respected by these people, but they have rejected his candidacy. If McCain can't get the values voters and he can't get the business voters, he really doesn't have much left.

Second, I'm told that people in the room tabulating the votes were stunned by Huckabee's showing. Stunned, for some of them, is an understatement. It seems clear to me that this was an opportunity for the leaders of the social conservative movement to sigh, shrug, and embrace Romney. They intended to.

They gave Romney a platform by himself on Friday night. They played heroic anthems for his entry and departure. He had the night all to himself. And he did well. Then Huckabee showed up the next day, sharing the same time cluster as Rudy. And Huckabee, with a speech he wrote himself, was magnificent.

Now, you can call me partisan or biased or whatever you want, but all I'm doing here is reporting. The leaders of the social conservative movement who were present, the Arlington Group members you hear so much about, were ready and willing to get on board Romney's campaign on Saturday morning. Then Huckabee spoke. Then the straw vote was tabulated. Then they realized that were they to do so, it would put them completely out of step with their members.

The social conservatives do not want to rally around Huckabee because he is as distasteful to fiscalcons as Rudy is to socons. Even Tony Perkins, the head of FRC, said he hoped the social conservative candidate would be palatable to the fiscal conservatives out there. Huckabee is not.

And here we arrive at the conundrum for the GOP and the Press. While the media has been filled with stories about the socons ready to bolt from the GOP if Rudy is the nominee, the real story and the untold story is that the business community is even more ready to bolt from the GOP. For the last eight years they've watched as the socons have scored every significant win on the right — stem cells, judges, etc. Only against Labor have the fiscal guys scored wins. But there have been no budget cuts, no culling of pork, steel subsidies, etc.

The fiscal guys see the writing on the wall. They see Hillary's position. And they are just about ready to cut a deal. And then you have the Republican libertarians who are just about ready to really vote for Ron Paul, doing to the GOP in 2008 what Ralph Nader voters did for the Democrats in 2000.

Huckabee breaks the coalition more than Giuliani because the socons fear Hillary more than the fiscalcons do. And that is why we won't see too many of the socon leaders rallying to the clear favorite of the socon base.

Posted in 2008 | FRC Action | huckabee | Rudy Giuliani — Comments (116)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:54pm on Oct. 20, 2007 Huckabee Presser. Attack of the Blumenthal Kid

By Erick

I attended a press conference with Mike Huckabee after his speech. It is interesting to note that of all the candidates, his was the only one to do something like this for media and bloggers.

I asked Governor Huckabee what he'd do, assuming he's gotten social conservatives on his side, to get fiscal conservatives on his side. He went straight to the Fair Tax. He said they should support him because he'd push the Fair Tax and scrap the income tax. I think this is going to be his huge weakness.

We've all been focused on social conservatives bolting. Fiscal conservatives could bolt if Huckabee were the nominee and he has not done something to placate the Club For Growth types.

On Iowa, Huckabee says his office there has seen a lot of traffic in the past twenty-four hours. He says he does not know what Brownback will do, but a lot of Brownback supporters in Iowa are flocking to him.

One reporter asked Gov. Huckabee if he thought Governor Romney is a conservative. He paused, then he said, "I think Governor Romney is espousing a very conservative message right now."

Oh, and Max Blumenthal, Sidney's son, showed up to harass Huckabee (click the pic for a larger view). During Huckabee's speech, he said we were importing workers into this country because we're aborting a million Americans a year. Max, cutting into other reporters time rudely, wants to know if Huckabee means the aborted babies would be working in poultry plants and cutting the grass. Huckabee says he has no idea what they'd be doing other than contributing to America. Max is not amused and keeps harassing Huckabee until he goes on to someone else.

Then Max interrupts again to know why Huckabee isn't wearing a flag lapel pin. Huckabee says the jewelry is irrelevant. Max takes his off, says it would protect Huckabee from Fox News, and then says it is made in China. Huckabee tries then to give it back saying he really didn't want a plastic American flag that was made in China. Max then berates him on Obama being attacked for not wearing a flag pin. Huckabee points out he defended Obama and Max looks even less intelligent than when he started, which is pretty difficult. The kid seems to not know how to make a way in life expect to live off his dad's name. Sad.

Posted in 2008 | FRC Action — Comments (45)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:41pm on Oct. 20, 2007 FRC Action Crowd ♥'s Mike

By Erick

Mike Huckabee is coming. The Arkansas folks in the crowd go nuts. They won't stop cheering.

It's abundantly apparent from the corridors to the reception he gets when he comes in that Huckabee is among his own, more so than Romney or Fred.

He starts with an Al Gore joke. Then he talks about baby boomers now entering the system and what's going to happen when the hippies realize they can now get free drugs.

"I come as one not who comes to you, but as one who comes from you. You are my roots," he says as he sinks in to his speech. He points out that he started out as a Baptist minister. He tells a joke about a lady asking if he was one of those Baptists who was so narrow minded he thought only the Baptists would go to heaven. He says, "Lady, I'm more narrow minded than that. I don't think even all the Baptists are going to heaven."

Now he transcends into "non-negotiable values." Freedom. Family. Faith.

He says we cannot "negotiate, accommodate, or placate Islamic terrorists. We must eliminate." The crowd likes that. "We cannot have the naive idea that if we leave them alone they will leave us alone. That will get us killed," he says as the crowd roars.

Then he goes into immigration and the broken border. He says he thanks God that we live in a place where people want to break into than break out of, but how terrible it is that it is more difficult for us to get on an airplane in our hometown than it is for an illegal to get over the border. Biggest Applause of Any Speech Yet That I've Seen.

He says he doesn't blame those who want to come here. He blames the government that has sat around doing nothing for over 20 years. Again, the crowd goes nuts.

He moves to energy and how bad it is that we are so dependent on energy from others. People in the crowd verbally agree with him. Then he bashes China and the crowd goes wild. Romney should be nervous. So should Fred.

"Our freedom is threatened by a tax system that is out of control." "As we say in the south, not even duct tape and WD-40 can fix it." He goes into Fair Tax. He points out how it would stop the IRS from muzzling ministers in the pulpits from speaking out. The crowd goes wild again.

He brings up the Law of the Sea Treaty. The people clap. He says any judge that thinks he can legislate from the bench "ought to be impeached." My ears are ringing the crowd is so loud.

Thompson and Romney should be worried. We have reached the crowd favorite.

Now he goes into marriage. The crowd goes wild and these, by the way, are not his people. His small group is up front, but the rest of the crowd is not his, but they are now.

"Why are we importing so many to do our work? Because we've aborted over a million Americans." He calls it a holocaust. The crowd gets loud, but not as loud as at other points.

"We don't need to move God to meet the cultural norms. We need to move the cultural norms to meet God." Massive applause. Standing ovation.

Now he's moved on to how faith is threatened in this country. He says there was once a time when some things were negotiable, but the sanctity of life and marriage and our freedom was not and never should be negotiable. "Let us never sacrifice our principles for anybody's politics," he says. The crowd likes that line.

"You know the prophets of old spoke the truth boldly," he says. "They spoke the truth to power. All of you in this room have the power to go back to your states and counties and be true to your faith and convictions."

Now he transitions into sermon. He talks about Jesus (I don't remember Romney talking about the J man). He talks about believing in a God who could light a fire on wood soaked in water. He talks about Jesus raising Lazarus. "I don't ever want anyone to let us replace expediency as new values for our long held values." Someone shouts "Come on Mike!" He crowd starts yelling. They stand. They clap. They cheer. They whistle.

"I do not spell G-O-D, G-O-P. Our party may be important. But our principles are more important." He says we cannot compromise our core beliefs. He says "Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time for those of us who call ourselves value voters to pledge our lifes, our fortunes, our sacred honor to that which is right, and true, and eternal."

And then he's gone.

Posted in 2008 | FRC Action — Comments (10)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:04pm on Oct. 20, 2007 Rudy Seals The Deal. For the General, Not The Primary.

By Erick

I, unfortunately, had to miss Rudy Giuliani's speech this morning. But the buzz here at the Washington Briefing is generally very positive.

NZ Bear, luckily, was there and provides very good coverage of it.

he hit abortion head on, going through what he would do to reduce the number of abortions:

"First, I will veto any reduction in the impact of the Hyde amendment. "

"I will support any reasonable suggestion that promises to reduce the number of abortions. I support parental notifications and i will continue to and i support and will continue to support the ban on partial birth abortion."

"I will reduce the red tape that makes adoption so difficult... I'll make the... adoption tax credit permanent."

Here's the deal. I've been out roaming the hall talking to people and there is a consensus among the people here that Giuliani did what he had to do to stop a hemorrage in the general, but he did not pull them to him in the primary.

That's probably what he needed to do. These are folks who are deeply, deeply skeptical of Rudy. They know he is not one of them. But they also know, as he showed them today, that he'd at least be passable, if not palatable, in the general.

[UPDATE:] Jim has some more. Also, I talked to some people I really, really respect and the three of them all said the same thing stuck with them. Giuliani talked about abortion rates versus adoption rates and kept stumbling over which was rising and which was falling. It was a minor stumble in his speech, but these three, who are thought leaders in this movement, all noticed it and it stuck with them.

Pay attention to Nathan Bradfield's blogging on Giuliani. He's been here live blogging it and is really in tune with the crowd here.

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Posted at 11:43am on Oct. 20, 2007 No one here wants a third party

By Erick

Mark Levin is making some great points getting the crowd rallied here at the Washington Briefing.

He says he is not willing to go third party and hand the White House back to the Clintons, like we did in 1992. The crowd goes wild (more on Giuliani shortly).

Then he says if we aren't happy with our candidates, it is our fault. Again, the crowd goes nuts.

People are really clicking with this and the general consensus in the crowd is that third party = Clinton White House.

Posted in 2008 | FRC Action — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:02pm on Oct. 19, 2007 Mitt Romney Impresses

By Erick

(Again, these are my impressions typing live, while Mitt is speaking)

Mitt Romney gets a big reception tonight here at the Washington Briefing. Jay Sekulow introduces him. Jay gets a big reception.

Jay's introduction revolves around Mitt Romney's marriage fight in Massachusetts.

Mitt comes in to a grand anthem. The room goes nuts -- a bigger reception than any of the other candidates. He begins pitch perfect.

"I'm pro-family on every level, from personal to political," he says. He says his "driving ambition" is to have his kids and grandkids grow up in a national that his strong and prosperous.

He's got this Mr. Rogers thing going on right now talking about family. Think Mr. Rogers as President. You can't help but like him, but you can't help but think it's a bit too canned or polished — the message and pitch are just perfect.

He praises single parents like his sister Jane, but says "two parents are the ideal setting." He wants to teach kids that before they have babies they should get married. "It really is time to make out of wedlock birth out of fashion again." And you know what? You believe him. He seems just so sincere. And the message resonates. Then he gets "hats off to Bill Cosby for telling it like it is."

He moves on to talk about inner-city families where young boys have no father figures. "And then there are the broad national tragedies built on this implication. . . . The nation cannot thrive" he says, talking about so many kids without dads.

Ann Romney, he says, has worked all her life to teach kids how to make good choices and if she's first lady, that'll continue to be her mission, he says. "I'll convene a White House summit" to look at family issues. "I'll realign government incentives to encourage marriage, not discourage it."

This guy sounds like he's already the nominee. It's like the other candidates were here to sell themselves and Romney has taken the difference approach -- presume he's already been sold to them and show them what they've gotten. It's not a bad approach for him. It works.

This is the most professional candidate speech so far. He pauses at the intended applause lines. He gets the applause. He laughs at the punch lines and everyone else does too.

Oh, and he wants to reinstate the family impact statement. They like that. I don't know what the heck it is.

Now he's on marriage and the crowd goes nuts when he promises a constitutional amendment to protect marriage as that between a man and woman. "Every child deserves a mother and a father," he says. BTW, tonight I saw a gay couple with adopted Asian kids for the first time. It was rather interesting.

He says he was a pro-life governor and there are several people in the crowd who make a guffaw sound. He keeps going. Interestingly though, in a very long list of things relating to life he will oppose, he says he will oppose "embryonic cloning," but he does not say a word about embryonic stem cell research. It's extremely noticeable because of the long list of things he listed.

"I'm going to fight the modern plague," he says. "Internet pornography." It's a big transition from abortion. "Computer pornography gives a whole new meaning to the term home invasion," he says. Then he says he'd require every computer sold in America to have an easy to use pornography filter. He says people who prey on kids online will be "one strike and your out," and when they get out they'll have to wear "ankle bracelets for life."

He wants "every family to have healthcare." This is where he stumbles. He says he'll do it without Hillary Care or new taxes. The audience reacts and he stops. No one does anything. He continues.

Now he says we need a federal tax credit for parents who home school their kids. The folks here love that.

"The anti-religion of secularism in this country has got to come to an end. We are a nation under God and We. Do. Place. Our. Trust. In. Him," he says. The crowd roars. "By the way, did you know I'm a Mormon? I've heard a few people think they can't support a Mormon, but that's just because they've seen Harry Reid." The crowd doesn't really laugh well. It's fractured.

"We're not going to beat Hillary Clinton by acting like Hillary Clinton," he says and brings the crowd to a roar again. He then gets impassioned about this nation remaining strong. He says we begin by strengthening the family.

He goes on to say we know where to begin, we know what to do, and "I can wait for us to do it together." The crowd gives him a big standing ovation. The music is again a triumphant anthem.

And he's gone.

The funny thing listening to this really Presidential speech -- and it was in tone, substance, and delivery -- is that you almost wanted him to be less polished. As much as Fred is unpolished and you want him more polished, you want the opposite of Romney

Posted in 2008 | FRC Action — Comments (89)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:32pm on Oct. 19, 2007 Fred Delivers

By Erick

(These are my real time thoughts on Fred's speech. I think it is safe to say that his and Romney's are the most important for this crowd to hear)

He came in to the strains of Johnny Cash's "I've Been Every Where."

Jerri, Fred, and the family. The crowd went wild.

Then he starts speaking. He begins with a seemingly distracted aside about his daughter not wanting to get off stage. People laugh. But then he revs up.

It's his usual folksy style. Now here is the interesting thing about Fred. As of now, he really hasn't put out a lot of x point plans where x is some number 4 or higher. He's instead put out a list of principles, but his campaign has not really talked about them.

Right now, though, Fred is delving in. He's talking federalism and why it's a good idea and why it's important. He throws in some God references too. The crowd applauds.

"Our people have shed more blood for the liberty of other people than another other group of people on earth," he says and gets the crowd applauding.

Now here's the thing, though. Fred seems unscripted. And that's a good thing, but it is also a bad thing. People don't want super polish, but then need something.

But then he talks about life. And he begins to choke up. He has to stop. He's talking about how he knows life is so important because of the death of his one daughter and the birth of his other daughter.

The crowd appreciates it and then he gets to this. "As President of the United States, no legislation that supports this procedure [abortion] will pass my desk without my veto." The crowd likes it.

Now he's on gay marriage. Fred says he wants "a constitutional amendment to stop this particular brand of judicial activism in its tracks." Before he gets to that point, he says why he thinks it is wrong and gets a few "all rights" from the crowd. Then he points out that he sherpa'ed John Roberts through the Senate.

Fred talks a lot about judges. He says "I know the difference between a good one and a bad one. And we need someone in the Oval Office who doesn't have to call his lawyers to know that difference." A lot of the crowd laughs knowing the Romney reference, and they clap.

He takes an interesting turn here. Fred says that he and Tom Coburn (R-OK) agree that we are bankrupting the country and this is a moral issue. "Those who are yet to be born do not have a seat at the table as we kick the can down the road for someone else to deal with," he says. "We have to blow the whistle on this irresponsibility," gets pretty good applause. He says he's going to talk about social security, which something a lot of people want to hear about, but he says "If you can't tell the truth, you shouldn't be President."

"The will of the people is at least as important as their military might," Fred begins, quoting from The History of the English Speaking People, as he talks about the military.

"Our optimism doesn't come from what we see, but from faith," Fred says. Then he says he wants to do something about restoring people's optimism in the country and that's why he's running for President. The crowd really liked that one.

He went on to talk about the threat of radical Islam, the need to recognize the threat, and the need to fight it.

This is perhaps the best speech Fred has given. And it was very, very well received by the crowd.

He hit the themes he needed to hit and made sure they knew that, of the big three candidates, he's the only one with the 100% pro-life voting record.

Fred objectively did well.

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Posted at 11:15am on Oct. 19, 2007 Brownback Speaks

By Erick

Sam Brownback has spoken. He, among the candidates thus far, was given the rock star treatment.

They love him here. Here, Sam Brownback is among his people. They laughed at all the jokes. They gasped at all his stunning stories. They clapped. And they clapped. And they clapped some more. Sometimes sitting, sometimes standing, sometimes not knowing, but clapping still the same.

Sam Brownback came. He wowed the audience. He preached on life. He preached on the tyranny of secularism. He talked about Mother Theresa. He talked about men he'd met in prison and women who'd suffered through abortions. He talked common sense on why values matter.

And then he was gone.

What might have been.

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Posted at 11:08am on Oct. 19, 2007 Tom Tancredo's Candid Moment

By Erick

Tom Tancredo is fired up. He's really fired up. He's impassioned. He says that in the minority he's voting much more regularly with his party leaders in the House.

He also admits he is a second tier candidate.

So why is he still here?

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Posted at 10:58am on Oct. 19, 2007 Romney Pulling A Paul To Shut Out Thompson

By Erick

Word on the street is that Mitt Romney has taken a play book from the Ron Paul campaign to shut out Fred Thompson.

Sorry, I had to laugh after writing that. But here's the deal.

The word at the Washington Briefing is that Romney is realizing he needs to take out Fred. In fact, a lot of people here are under the impression that one of the big candidates (Huckabee, McCain, Romney, Thompson) other than Rudy will shine after this weekend. And Romney wants to be that guy.

Building in the momentum, the Romney campaign is out to win the straw poll. They are also out to win the online poll. The Paul folks haven't seemed to be too active in the polling, but Romney has blasted out an email urging his supporters to participate in the polling.

Mark DeMoss, Romney's "Faith & Values Steering Committee Co-Chair" sent the email last night writing

As many of you know, virtually all of the Republican candidates for President are speaking this weekend at the Values Voter Summit sponsored by the Family Research Council. What you may not know is that Family Research Council is also conducting a straw poll and allowing people to vote whether or not they attend the conference.

Time has almost run out. We have until Saturday at noon.

I wouldn¹t be writing you this evening if I didn¹t believe you could make a major difference for Governor Romney¹s campaign.

At this crucial moment for the campaign we want to make sure that America knows that voters like you, who care about values, support Governor Romney.

Now this is the great test of the election and it is why this weekend is so important. First, are Romney's online supporters as fired up as Ron Paul's? Can Mitt dominate an online poll?

Second, can Romney pull the fence sitters off to his side? The social conservative leaders are hoping to rally behind a guy. We'll see if Mitt can do it.

[UPDATE:] By the way, on the reverse side, check this out from Justin Hart. Fred is really pushing the "I'm the pro-life guy" message here. I think he and Mitt both recognize that one of them needs to come out of this standing.

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Posted at 10:34am on Oct. 19, 2007 John McCain Speaks

By Erick

John McCain is up first this morning at the Washington Briefing. His camp played an introductory video that highlights his opposition to the original Iraq strategy.

In his speech, he's not afraid to call radical Islam "evil" and makes a very impassioned case that it is. Over all though, he seems subdued. Subdued, I guess, isn't the right word, but comes the closest. He is not raising his voice, yelling, pounding fists, or anything else. It's as if John McCain has decided that the force of his convictions will come through.

And you know what? It works. Here towards the end he's picking up voice and bringing the audience to applause when he gets on judges. He points out he supported Alito and Roberts. He also says "don't federalize issues not in the constitution."

Now, here you go -- I've typing this live. After a good bit of his subdued speech, he's not got the audience's attention and now he's fired up about the issues -- abortion, federal judicial grabs of power, etc. But, he hasn't gotten to immigration.

Great line he throws in: "I am pro-life because I know what it's like to live without human rights."

[UPDATE:] McCain just finished. His speech was well received. He did not mention immigration, but really focused on life, federalism, and the troops.

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Posted at 10:23am on Oct. 19, 2007 Democrats to Values Voters: "Not our values."

By Erick

Here at the FRC Action Washington Briefing, there's an interesting note. All the Democratic candidates were invited to speak. None accepted. Now, it's important to pay attention to this because the Republicans always get flak for not showing up to talk to GLTB audiences, race based forums, etc.

The Democrats keep talking about how they are going to talk faith this year. They keep saying they are reaching out. Yet they would not come to talk to American evangelical activists this weekend in Washington.

Tony Perkins, the head of FRC, talked about what values are important to "Values Voters" and he emphasized that they are neither Republican nor Democrat values. They are values shared by all of us (allegedly): life, family, and freedom.

Too bad the Democrats aren't interested in talking about those values here this weekend.

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Posted at 9:49am on Oct. 19, 2007 The FRC Action Washington Briefing 2007

By Erick

Good morning from Washington, DC. Today, I'll be bringing live (or mostly live) coverage of FRC Actions's 2007 Washington Briefing.

Thousands of us are packed into the Washington Hilton to hear from Presidential candidates, ministers, political figures, and others as we head down the road to the White House.

On tap today: speeches by the Presidential candidates, a debate between the Christian left and right, and Rick Santorum.

Special thanks, by the way, to Americans United for Life. They helped defray blogger costs and helped us out.

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