c. 2008 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ When Mike Huckabee resoundingly won the Iowa caucuses Thursday (Jan. 4), Republican evangelicals backed his campaign by a margin of more than 2-1 in the crowded GOP field.

But could that view translate across the country, making him the candidate who could finally unite the nation’s splintered evangelicals? The jury’s still out on that, say observers of conservative Christian politics.

“They’d love to see him be the nominee,” said Laura Olson, a political scientist at Clemson University in South Carolina. “But being that that’s a movement that’s very politically sophisticated and very diverse, and very much wanting to maintain its sort of turf in the Republican coalition, you can’t get too crazy about anybody just yet.”

Still, the potential power of a reinvigorated evangelical bloc _ with one of their own now a suddenly viable candidate _ was in evidence as the first votes were cast in the 2008 race for the White House.

The former Arkansas governor reaped 34 percent of the overall Republican vote in the caucuses that resulted in higher _ and more religious _ turnout than expected. But experts say Iowans’ enthusiasm will need to be followed by wins elsewhere, as well as a campaign that has more money and a wider base of support.

Most don’t expect major evangelical figures to get behind Huckabee until the Feb. 5 “Super Tuesday” primaries have neared or passed. Rather than embrace Huckabee just yet, some evangelical leaders were much more willing to congratulate their peers on their ability to get out the vote.

“The former governor may not become the Republican nominee, and I have not endorsed him, but what happened there last night was evidence of an energized and highly motivated conservative community,” said Focus on the Family Action Chairman James Dobson.

It was at the fall Values Voter Summit, which Dobson’s group co-sponsored, that Huckabee’s embrace by evangelicals became evident. He won the straw poll with 51 percent of the vote (though Mitt Romney edged him out when online voters were tallied).

Connie Mackey, senior vice president of FRC Action, the legislative arm of the Family Research Council, said the support shown for Huckabee at the summit and in Iowa shows it is possible for conservative Christians to galvanize around a key candidate.

“When the Christian right … when they get behind a candidate, that candidate stands a very good chance of walking away with the nomination,” said Mackey, whose group also co-sponsored the Values Voter Summit.

“Whether or not he can bring in all evangelicals, a really solid base across the country … I don’t think we can take that to the bank yet.”

The lack of definitive, long-term support is simply a matter of cautious political pragmatism, said Michael Cromartie, an expert on evangelicals at Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center.

“The issue for many of these people is not whether Huckabee is a wonderfully decent man but whether he is electable on a national scale,” he said. “So-called evangelical leaders will get behind the candidate they think is going to actually be electable, and Huckabee hasn’t proven that yet.”

Charmaine Yoest, a senior adviser to the Huckabee campaign, countered that his appeal would soon go national.

“It’s fine with us if the pundit class wants to underestimate Gov. Huckabee by portraying this as an Iowa/evangelical story, because what they’ll find is that his appeal is much broader,” she said. “This is a national campaign.”

John Green, senior fellow with the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, said Huckabee may face a different challenge from President Bush in solidifying his support within the party.

“Huckabee has great credentials with religious voters,” said Green. “The question is: Can he get the Republican establishment to support him?”

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The battle now shifts to New Hampshire, where state GOP chairman Fergus Cullen said evangelicals make up a much smaller _ and harder to grasp _ share of GOP voters.

“If one candidate were able to corner the market on that section of the vote, that’s 20 percent; that makes you a serious player,” said Fergus Cullen. “But no one candidate has been able to corner the market on evangelicals in New Hampshire.”

Huckabee has not completely sewn up the evangelical vote. Mark DeMoss, a well-known publicist for conservative Christian leaders, is an unpaid adviser to rival Mitt Romney’s campaign.

“I’m worried about an evangelical euphoria that is saying `Here’s one of our own. Let’s send him to the White House,”’ said DeMoss. “Because once he gets to the White House … he has to be the president of the whole country and it requires more than being a man of strong faith.”

(David Finnigan contributed to this report from Los Angeles.)

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