Le Monde, France

Iowa: the Victory of Mike Huckabee, the Pastor of “Compassionate Conservatism”

By Corine Lesnes

Translated by Sandra Stark

January 08, 2008

France - Le Monde - Original Article (French)

He plays electric bass guitar wearing the same suit that he sports on television. Mike Huckabee, 52 years old, cultivates the image of an unpretentious man, close to people. He is not afraid to joke around. Why try for the presidency? “People want to elect someone like the people they work with, not someone who could fire them.”

Columnists have described him as the “hick version” of Ronald Reagan. In an election where populism is the dominant trait, the former governor of Arkansas surprised everyone by winning over Mitt Romney, the Mormon businessman who spent 9 million dollars in Iowa, 20 times more than Huckabee.

The guitar is a fundamental element of his strategy. It permits him to reassure those who could never imagine themselves voting for a Baptist from the Bible Belt. A pastor for twelve years, he does not deny that he believes that God created the world in six days and that he would like abortion to be unconstitutional. But he does not appear as an ideologue.

He spun his web in Iowa with the help of a network of home schoolers, parents who prefer to raise their children themselves rather than send them to school. He has told his story, finding a good angle: isn’t he a former governor of Arkansas, just like ex-president Bill Clinton, a disadvantaged child born in Hope, like Clinton? He also speaks of his severe diet, which enabled him to lose more than 100 pounds.

HEALTH INSURANCE

Above all, he has developed a form of “compassionate conservatism” which echoes current economic difficulties. He labels it “immoral” that CEOs earn 500 times more than workers. “This isn’t free enterprise. It’s robbery.” In Arkansas, he created a system of health insurance for millions of disadvantaged children. He also pushed through huge tax reductions while raising taxes on gasoline and on cigarettes.

With Iowa in his pocket, where is Huckabee headed? The business side of the Republican party is fighting against him. And they have more money than Evangelicals.