Forty-eight percent of Evangelical Christians support Hucakbee. That's more than all the other candidates combined. Romney attracts 16% of the Evangelical vote.

Did you catch the Evangelical number? That's called 'lapping the field.'

Huckabee picks-up the endorsement of the Falwell legacy:

After Huckabee delivered an address at the evangelical Liberty University here, he picked up an endorsement from Jerry Falwell, Jr., the son of the school's late founder. "My father supported Huckabee before he was number two in the polls," Falwell said. "We're just proud, honored to have you here."

Falwell was not expecting to endorse Huckabee today, but when put on the spot, he did. "He's my choice, yes," Falwell said to cheers from students and a smile from Huckabee. While Falwell called Huckabee his "close friend," he also said [Fred] Thompson would have been good choice.

Meanwhile The Nation wonders about whether Huckabee's playing up his particular faith isn't also stoking the anti-Mormonism of many evangelical and fundamentalist Christians.

No serious observer of what's playing out in Iowa will disagree with the New York Times assessment that: "The religious divide over Mitt Romney's Mormon faith that his supporters had long feared would occur is emerging in Iowa as he is being challenged in state polls by Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor who has played up his faith in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Huckabee's rise in Iowa -- some recent polls now put him in a dead heat with Mr. Romney, who had led surveys for months -- has been fueled by evangelical Christians, who believe Mormonism runs counter to Christian orthodoxy."

Huckabee backers in Iowa have been quoted as referring to Romney, a member of one of Mormonism's most prominent families, as a politician "who's going to be acting on an anti-Christian faith as the basis of their decision-making." The former Arkansas governor's Iowa campaign co-chair, veteran Republican activist Daniel Carroll, has been quoted as saying that Christians prefer Huckabee over Romney because Huckabee "prays to the God of the Bible.'

And what about the Constitutional proscription on religious tests for public office? The Nation wonders about that too.

I wonder whether liberal columnist Bill Press is paying attention after his claim last week:

Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee, the only ordained Baptist minister in the race, is almost totally ignored by his fellow Christians because, even though Huckabee scores 100 percent on the issues, they don't think he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning. Huckabee's only evangelical endorsement comes from Tim LaHaye, co-author of the "Left Behind" novels - which may be the appropriate title for Huckabee's campaign.

(Except for the endorsements of at least three past presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention; American Family Assocation founder Don Wildmon, Vision America honcho Rick Scarborough; former SBC 2nd Vice President, Wiley Drake;  televangelists James Robison, Ken Copeland, Jerry Falwell Jr., Jonathan Falwell (brother of Jerry Sr.), actor Chuck Norris and radio talk show host Janet Folger. And those are just the one's I am aware of.)

Pastordan wonders about what's up with the media (mostly) missing that the seemingy sunny Huckabee can also be a shady character.

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