A Dirty Trick Against Huckabee?

Time ^ | 1/2/2008 | Michael Scherer

[JohnnyZ]

In recent days, at least two evangelical pastors who are personally supporting Mike Huckabee received anonymous mailings warning that their churches risk sanction by the Internal Revenue Service if they become too involved in politics. The pastors said that the letters, one of which is notable for exaggerated punctuation and a spelling mistake, appeared aimed at preventing church leaders from encouraging congregants to turn out on caucus night.

"The intention is to try to get us to back down," said Kevin Hollinger, the pastor of Algona's First Baptist Church and a letter recipient. Like dozens of other evangelical leaders in Iowa, Hollinger has personally endorsed Huckabee, a fellow Baptist pastor, while encouraging his church membership to participate in the caucuses. In Iowa, polls show that Huckabee has a significant advantage among evangelical voters over his closest competitor, Mitt Romney, a Mormon who has courted the support of evangelical leaders across the country with more mixed success.

[AnimalLover]

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[AnimalLover]

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[DangerDanger]

“Sounds like something Ed “Walkin Around Money” Rollins of the Huckster’s camapign would do.”

Yepper. An unofficial tactic of bloodsport politics is the “self” attack. You attack your own candidate, and make it look as though the attack was made by an opponent. For better or worse, Rollins is a master at such “PR Miracles,” as I called them tonight on another thread.