Surging Huckabee is anti-voucher
September 6, 2007
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September 6, 2007
In what may signal a setback to the coalition promoting school vouchers and other forms of government aid to private and parochial school parents, a surging candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination has warned that such programs may undermine public education.
Surprisingly, the political heresy came from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister who nine years ago urged conservative Christians to “take back the nation for Christ.”
In a wide-ranging Jewish Week interview, Huckabee — whose surprising second-place finish in Iowa’s Republican straw poll last month vaulted him toward the top tier of GOP contenders — also broke with GOP frontrunners who shun talking to Syria and Iran, although he said he does not necessarily favor high-level “negotiations.”
And he expressed mystification at the reluctance of Jewish voters to abandon the Democrats.
“That’s a question I wish I could answer, and I can’t,” he said in the interview, conducted by telephone last week. “I’ve talked to Jewish friends, and I still haven’t been able to come up with an answer.”
Three months ago, Huckabee, who served for 10 years as Arkansas governor, was considered the darkest of dark horses in a Republican field crowded with nationally known figures such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
But political insiders say Huckabee has run a shrewd campaign capitalizing on his ties to the powerful Evangelical wing of the party, an affable personality and good organization in key primary and caucus states, including Iowa.
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