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GREENVILLE, S.C. – When Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee speaks to crowds of evangelical Christian voters, the scene more resembles a rock show than a political rally.
It’s not only because the former Baptist preacher plays bass guitar for his most reverent supporters. Exuberant teenage girls with digital cameras trip over each other for snapshots. Grown men nod in rhythm to the cadence of Huckabee’s stump speech, which often resembles a mini-sermon.
As the South Carolina primary nears, though, Huckabee is moving to expand his base of support beyond the friendly sanctuary.
His target: less fervently religious working class voters who have been hurt by the loss of manufacturing jobs to foreign competition and the downturn in the economy.
“There are a lot of people in this country who really are hurting,” Huckabee said in a conference call with reporters Friday, pointing to the impact of rising food, fuel and health care costs on low and middle income families.
His appeal to those voters shares more with the message of populist Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina, than his fellow Republicans.
Though Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is less dramatic than Edwards – he holds back on harsh criticism of health insurance companies and oil companies – he speaks far more of the plight of the working class than any other Republican.
As the economy worsens – mortgage foreclosures have hit record highs and job growth is slowing – the financial well being of Americans has become a top issue in the presidential campaign.
That is especially true in Michigan, where the downturn of the auto industry has battered the state. Huckabee campaigned there Friday.
“If we don’t acknowledge the anxiety, people will figure we’re disconnected from reality,” Huckabee said in the call from Michigan.
While economic woes have not been as pronounced in South Carolina as in Michigan, the state has not been immune. The situation is unlikely to improve in 2008, economists said.
In Myrtle Beach, the once-booming housing market and tourism industry have slowed. Upstate, manufacturing jobs have vanished because of foreign competition, and the losses are expected to accelerate this year.
Economic growth is expected to drop 25 percent this year, according to a December forecast by economists at the University of South Carolina.
Seeking to capitalize on economic insecurity, Huckabee is running a radio ad in Michigan that says voters should see him as “the guy you work with, not the guy who laid you off.”
Huckabee is struggling to break out of the mold as the race’s “religious candidate.” At a debate in Myrtle Beach, Thursday night, he reacted forcefully to a question about his religious beliefs.
“You know, it's interesting, everybody says religion is off limits, except we always can ask me the religious questions,” he said, before delivering a nuanced explanation of what the Bible says about the duties of husbands and wives.
With that answer, “He put the press on notice that he’s not only a religious candidate,” said Patrick Caddell, a Democratic pollster and strategist who lives in South Carolina.
“He’s had this economic message for months, but it hasn’t been picked up. A lot of these middle class social conservatives are also fiscal populists,” Caddell said.
Ironically, by expanding his base beyond evangelicals, Huckabee could improve his position with religious voters, said Laura Olson, a Clemson University political scientist who studies conservative Christian voters.
Nearly half the Republicans expected to vote in next week’s South Carolina primary identify themselves as evangelicals, she said.
Many would prefer to vote for Huckabee, but they have concerns about his ability to win in states where evangelicals have less impact, she said. Broadening his base of support could ease those concerns, improving his standing in South Carolina, she said.
"The more he can do that, without distancing himself from his base of values voters, the better chance he has of winning South Carolina,” she said.
(Comment at mgwashington.com or e-mail smussenden@mediageneral.com)
It’s not only because the former Baptist preacher plays bass guitar for his most reverent supporters. Exuberant teenage girls with digital cameras trip over each other for snapshots. Grown men nod in rhythm to the cadence of Huckabee’s stump speech, which often resembles a mini-sermon.
As the South Carolina primary nears, though, Huckabee is moving to expand his base of support beyond the friendly sanctuary.
His target: less fervently religious working class voters who have been hurt by the loss of manufacturing jobs to foreign competition and the downturn in the economy.
“There are a lot of people in this country who really are hurting,” Huckabee said in a conference call with reporters Friday, pointing to the impact of rising food, fuel and health care costs on low and middle income families.
His appeal to those voters shares more with the message of populist Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina, than his fellow Republicans.
Though Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is less dramatic than Edwards – he holds back on harsh criticism of health insurance companies and oil companies – he speaks far more of the plight of the working class than any other Republican.
As the economy worsens – mortgage foreclosures have hit record highs and job growth is slowing – the financial well being of Americans has become a top issue in the presidential campaign.
That is especially true in Michigan, where the downturn of the auto industry has battered the state. Huckabee campaigned there Friday.
“If we don’t acknowledge the anxiety, people will figure we’re disconnected from reality,” Huckabee said in the call from Michigan.
While economic woes have not been as pronounced in South Carolina as in Michigan, the state has not been immune. The situation is unlikely to improve in 2008, economists said.
In Myrtle Beach, the once-booming housing market and tourism industry have slowed. Upstate, manufacturing jobs have vanished because of foreign competition, and the losses are expected to accelerate this year.
Economic growth is expected to drop 25 percent this year, according to a December forecast by economists at the University of South Carolina.
Seeking to capitalize on economic insecurity, Huckabee is running a radio ad in Michigan that says voters should see him as “the guy you work with, not the guy who laid you off.”
Huckabee is struggling to break out of the mold as the race’s “religious candidate.” At a debate in Myrtle Beach, Thursday night, he reacted forcefully to a question about his religious beliefs.
“You know, it's interesting, everybody says religion is off limits, except we always can ask me the religious questions,” he said, before delivering a nuanced explanation of what the Bible says about the duties of husbands and wives.
With that answer, “He put the press on notice that he’s not only a religious candidate,” said Patrick Caddell, a Democratic pollster and strategist who lives in South Carolina.
“He’s had this economic message for months, but it hasn’t been picked up. A lot of these middle class social conservatives are also fiscal populists,” Caddell said.
Ironically, by expanding his base beyond evangelicals, Huckabee could improve his position with religious voters, said Laura Olson, a Clemson University political scientist who studies conservative Christian voters.
Nearly half the Republicans expected to vote in next week’s South Carolina primary identify themselves as evangelicals, she said.
Many would prefer to vote for Huckabee, but they have concerns about his ability to win in states where evangelicals have less impact, she said. Broadening his base of support could ease those concerns, improving his standing in South Carolina, she said.
"The more he can do that, without distancing himself from his base of values voters, the better chance he has of winning South Carolina,” she said.
(Comment at mgwashington.com or e-mail smussenden@mediageneral.com)