Just Another Country Moralist

Mike Huckabee is surging towards the front of the pack in Iowa with a message of social conservatism and economic populism. Iowa sets up very well as a state for him, and it could slingshot him into contention in New Hampshire, although some Congressional candidates have more money in their war chests than he does, and it's dubious whether or not he can effectively organize.

One thing is pretty clear; Huckabee's sunny disposition masks some extreme views on social issues, which would be incredibly difficult to explain to a general election audience.

During a house party in New Hampshire over the weekend, Mike Huckabee was asked if his Christian values would prevent him from supporting funding for safe-sex programs. Huckabee then replied that it would be more important to ask people to simply not engage in reckless behavior.

"The best thing to do is to encourage people to make good choices," Huckabee said. "For example, if we were really serious about stopping a problem, whether it's drunk driving, we don't say, 'Okay, don't drive as drunk,' do we?"

Huckabee offered another example: "We don't say that a little domestic violence is okay, just cut it down a little, just don't hit quite as hard. We say it's wrong."

A real, under-the-radar goal of abortion opponents is to ban all forms of birth control in favor of abstinence programs that don't work and actually endanger the sexually inexperienced. Huckabee fits squarely in the tradition we've seen just today, with the President appointing someone to head the family planning section of the Department of Health and Human Services who calls contraceptives part of the 'culture of death.' This is hardly a mainstream opinion, and behind that aw-shucks demeanor, this is Huckabee's true belief.