Huckabee wins Values Voter straw poll

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in the moments following the Values Voter Debate Sept. 17, 2007, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (WND photo) Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the Values Voter Debate straw poll last night in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after his performance against six other Republican presidential candidates.

With 63 percent, Huckabee received more votes than all the other candidates combined. No-show candidates – the top four, according to national surveys – were included in the poll.

The vote included 340 delegates who were hand-selected by 40 of the country's social activists and opinion-makers.

"Gov. Mike Huckabee on Thursday heaped criticism upon immigration legislation in the Arkansas Legislature, describing it as "inflammatory . . . race-baiting and demagoguery." He also challenged the Christian values of its main sponsor. Huckabee said the bill, seeking to forbid public assistance and voting rights to undocumented immigrants, "inflames those who are racist and bigots and makes them think there's a real problem. But there's not."

The bill is modeled after Proposition 200, approved by Arizona voters in November. The Arkansas measure was filed by Republican Sens. Jim Holt of Springdale and Denny Altes of Fort Smith.

He is worried about voting rights of 'undocumented workers'? Huckabee definitely belongs in the top tier; He is one of them. It would appear what a candidate has actually done, the road he/she has walked his/her entire life is unimportant to the GOP electorate.

Who cares what they have done, let's trust them one more time, politicians never lie. It boggles the mind that you folks are so accepting of a 'new convert' to lead our nation. If we (the GOP) continue viewing this process as some 'popularity contest', fine. Just don't act surprised when you reap the results of your reasoning. Wake up America, Wake up GOP!

On MikeHuckabee.com, this is what Mike Huckabee himself says about his position concerning IMMIGRATION:

* My number one priority is to secure America’s border.
* We have to know who is coming into our country, where they are going, and why they are here. We need a fence along our border with Mexico, electronic in some places, and more highly-trained border agents.
* Those who are caught trying to enter illegally must be detained, processed, and deported.
* Illegal immigrants already living among us who commit crimes must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and incarcerated or deported.

I opposed the amnesty bill that was defeated by the Senate in June. I support the $3 billion that Congress recently appropriated for border security. These funds will be used to train and deploy 23,000 more agents, add four drone airplanes, build 700 miles of fence and 300 miles of vehicle barriers, and erect 105 radar and camera towers. They will be used to end “catch and release” by providing money to “catch and detain” those caught entering illegally and to crack down on those who enter legally, but overstay their visas. These border security provisions will stem the tide of illegals, which is what we must do before we can turn the tide and deal with those who are already here. Before you fix the damage in your house caused by a leaking roof, you stop the leak, which is what this legislation will do.

My number one priority is to have a secure border. Right now, we have too many people entering the country illegally, and this must stop. We can’t turn the tide until we stem the tide. We need to know who is coming into our country, where they are going, and why they are here. We need to create a process to allow people to come here to do the jobs - plucking chickens, tarring roofs, picking fruits - that are going unfilled by our citizens. They must have a tamper-proof, scannable I. D. with a finger or retinal scan, so that their employers know they belong here.

Besides stopping terrorists, we must weed out those with a criminal background or a communicable disease. We have to build a fence along our border with Mexico, parts of which will be electronic. We need more well-trained border agents and cooperation agreements with local and state law enforcement officials, so that we have a clear and consistent approach by all jurisdictions.

Those who are caught trying to enter illegally must be detained, processed, and deported. Illegal immigrants who are already living among us and commit crimes must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and incarcerated or deported.

Taken from: http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=4

My comments: To understand Huckabee, we must realize that he is not in favor of open borders and illegal immigration, but he is in favor of treating everybody fairly and respectfully. It is very difficult to do so with people who have broken the law (illegal immigrants), but that does not mean that we should be against LEGAL immigrants.

I certainly understand what you are saying. The fact that he currently doesn’t seem to have the support of the business elite wing of the GOP, however, makes me more inclined to trust him than any of the front runners. Basically - I don’t trust any of the top tier candidates and I want social conservatives to be able to unify around one of the others. My preference by far would be for that candidate to be Duncan Hunter. That does not appear to be happening (HSLDA endorsed Huckabee, Janet Folger pretty much endorsed Huckabee, and it appears that most of the social conservative organizations are going to endorse him). I think Huckabee would be better than Giuliani, Thompson, McCain, or Romney so if he ends up being the choice of most social conservatives I am likely to support him so that we don’t fracture our vote to the point of cancelling each other out. He is not my favorite its just that I want people who care about social conservative issues to have a candidate they can count on and Huckabee is at least very good on life and family issues.

after his performance

key word: "performance"

LOL

They all come, like sheep, to the call of anyone who puts on a debate - how many now - and line up like, as Fred says, a bunch of seals waiting for the next fish to be thrown.

They are, indeed, "performing."

What with cable news, blogs and the Internet - and personal appearances like Fred is doing to talk IN PERSON to the people = the never ending debates are anachronistic serving little purpose other than getting peoples faces ( the moderators) on TV -

we have fallen so far we cannot see the light
god has given us a man of god theres no fooling around
who ever is president will have tough time bush and his world views haven’t helped
we must go back to jesus we must not divide isreal Jerusalem
he,s blowing fire through all southern California
but we sleeping spiritually in backsliding
follow the cross this what you can do return to god
a warning for this land what ever you do to isreal I will do with you and this country huckabee cant save you
there are political people the rest neither know him or care there voting record s prove that but he is a start
I would love hear a man of god from that oval not a show
pray for the holy spirit to come revival is preached by a man god spread the true gospel

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