Mike Huckabee Still Tops with Social Conservatives

ABC News’ Teddy Davis reports:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee beat his nearest rivals by more than a two-to-one margin in a 2012 presidential straw poll of 597 socially conservative activists who attended this weekend’s Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C.

“He is well oiled,” said Tony Perkins, the president of the conservative Family Research Council. “I don’t think he missed a beat from when he left off in the election.”

Huckabee, a silver-tongued former Baptist minister who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and is now a talk-show host on the Fox News Channel, garnered 28 percent, which translated into 170 votes.

There was a four-way tie for second place among former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind.

Romney got 12.40 percent (74 votes), Pawlenty got 12.23 percent (73 votes), Palin got 12.06 percent (72 votes), and Pence got 11.89 percent (71 votes).

The Values Voters straw poll is a glimpse into the support that potential Republican presidential candidates have among the social conservatives who paid $99 to attend the summit.

Huckabee’s Friday morning speech, which was laced with his trademark humor, honed in on the cultural issues that are of greatest concern for the social conservatives who attended the conference.

“There are so many people who have told us as conservatives that we should move to the center on the sanctity of marriage or the sanctity of life,” Huckabee said. “Just move to the center.

“I’m not sure the center makes a whole lot of sense when it’s coming from people who certainly don’t have our interest, or our country’s interest, at heart,” he added.

Although Huckabee ran away with the straw poll, there are signs that Democrats do not take his potential candidacy as seriously as they do the potential bids of two of the second-place finishers.

Following the Friday and Saturday speeches, the Democratic National Committee issued statements harshly criticizing only two of the Republicans: Pawlenty and Romney.

There was no such instant response for Huckabee.

While Huckabee ran away with the straw poll, Pawlenty can be proud that he matched the performance of the better-known Romney.

Pawlenty, an evangelical Christian, connected with the audience during Friday’s speech by quoting 2 Chronicles 7:14, the same passage of the Bible that former President Ronald Reagan had open when he took the presidential oath.

Without prompting, the audience joined Pawlenty in reciting the verse: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

During Saturday’s press conference announcing the straw poll results, Perkins described Pawlenty as a Republican with potential because he is a conservative who has managed to win in a state that has traditionally voted Democratic.

“He is a conservative with a core set of beliefs,” said Perkins.

“But he has won in a moderate-to-liberal state,” he added, referring to Minnesota, a state with a long progressive tradition.

In total, there were nine Republicans on the straw poll ballot.

Rounding out the field, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich received 6.7 percent (40 votes), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal received received 4.7 percent (28 votes), former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum received 2.5 percent (15 votes), and Texas Rep. Ron Paul received 2.2 percent (13 votes).

Five percent of straw poll participants were undecided (31 votes) and 2 percent voted for write-in candidates (10 votes).

Candidates did not ask the Family Research Council to place their names on the ballot. Candidates did, however, have the opportunity to remove their names from the ballot.

The straw poll ballot originally included Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry, but FRC agreed to remove him from the ballot after the Texas governor told Perkins that he was focused on his 2010 campaign for re-election.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a fellow Republican, is challenging Perry in the state’s GOP gubernatorial primary.

Four of the nine candidates spoke to the conference in open session: Huckabee, Romney, Pawlenty, and Pence.

One of the nine Republican candidates — former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum — spoke to the conference in a closed press session.

Four other Republicans appeared on the ballot but did not speak to the conference: Palin, Gingrich, Paul, and Jindal.

In addition to the 2012 candidate preference question, the straw poll also tested issue preferences.

By far, the most important issue was abortion, an issue which was cited by 41 percent (243 voters). The second most important issue was protection of religious liberty which garnered 18 percent, and same-sex “marriage” which garnered 7 percent.

The Values Voters Summit took place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

DeLay May Have Stress Fracture in Foot — but Still ‘Dancing’

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: “Dancing With the Stars” fans got quite a scare today with news that one of the show’s biggest draws in the new season has been injured.
“Old age is catching up to me, may have a stress fracture in my foot. no worries, it'll take more than that to keep me off the dance floor!” Tom DeLay wrote on his Twitter feed.

Fear not: “The Hammer” is tough as nails.

DeLay spokeswoman Shannon Flaherty said the former House majority leader injured himself in rehearsals earlier this week, and went to a doctor in Los Angeles today to check it out.

But he hasn’t missed any rehearsals, and still plans on making his “Dancing” debut next week.

“He’s is still OK to go for Monday’s performance,” Flaherty said. “He’s still been rehearsing and is still dancing.”

Rep. Kucinich: Obama ‘Still Has Time, But Time Is Running Out’

ABC News’ Huma Khan reports: Former Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, said he is still waiting for President Obama to move the country forward in the direction he promised, reflecting the left’s frustration with the president on national security policies they feel are a continuation of the Bush era.

“The American people were promised change in November, and change, it’s in watching the last few dead leaves fall off a tree in the winter,” Kucinich said on ABCNews.com’s Top Line Friday. “It’s moving from winter to spring. We’re still waiting for spring.”

Kucinich, like many of the left-wing of the party, said he has yet to see a significant shift away from the Bush administration’s policies. While the president has ordered the closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and repeatedly called waterboarding torture, he has also continued many of his predecessor’s policies, including the war in Afghanistan — where the president will send more troops — rendition policy and use of the “state secrets” privilege. Obama also retracted his decision to release photographs showing detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, irking some on the left.

“We’re still waiting for that kind of significant change which can tell us that we’ve really moved away from the Bush administration policies, which caused an America to rise up, and reject not just a party, but they rejected an administration’s approach to human rights, to peace, to everything,” Kucinich said.

The chairman of the House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy said Obama still needs to work on those issues, including ending the controversial military commissions. Last week, the Obama administration reinstated military commissions, albeit with changes that offer detainees that undergo trials more rights than in the Bush administration.

“Make sure there’s not going to be anything that even remotely approaches torture,” Kucinich said. “All of these policies that we’ve been trapped into by the Bush administration, we have to, we have to get away from so that we can reclaim the fullness of the America that we love.”

Kucinich also assailed former Vice President Dick Cheney, who defended his administration’s policies on harsh interrogation techniques and other national security issues in an opposing speech to President Obama’s on Thursday.

“I think that Mr. Cheney should be brought before the Congress, made to raise his right hand, and have to testify about the statements he made that took us into a war, that created an increased national security problem for the United States,” Kucinich said.

Kucinich called for more “civic involvement” and a movement to express support for the measures he thinks President Obama should take.

One issue the Democrat from Ohio does side with Obama on is closing the detainee center at Guantanamo Bay. This week, Senate and House lawmakers — including several Democrats — rejected $80 million from the war funding bill to close the facility, saying they want the president to present a more detailed plan on how the administration will close the detainee center and what it will do about the prisoners housed there. Many say they do not want detainees to be sent to prisons in the United States, which is one of the options the White House has suggested.

Kucinich argued against that view, saying that the “United States penal system has a serious set of super max prisons that could hold people pending trial and also, if you don’t have a case against individuals, we’re not entitled to hold people ad infinitum.”

Echoing Obama’s comments that the United States must hold on to its Constitution and values, Kucinich added, “Our reputation as a nation depends on our ability to adhere to the rule of law, not only for our country, but internationally, and we’re still aren’t there with respect to the treatment of prisoners and the existence of Guantanamo.”

It’s not just on the national security front where Kucinich said he wants to see change. He said he wants to see more action from the president on the domestic front, including on job creation and health care.

“We need to have still, a massive jobs program to put millions of people back to work. We need a single care healthcare system that will restore industry and that will give all Americans real healthcare. We need a national manufacturing policy that says that the maintenance of steel automotive, aerospace and shipping is vital to our national security,” he said.

“I think Barack Obama still has time, but time is running out,” Kucinich added.

And as for whether Obama is taking his supporters on the left for granted, Kucinich replied: “The American Eagle needs two wings to fly. I’d like to see both of them get some exercise.”

Click HERE to watch the interview with Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

We also chatted with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos about the opposing views Obama and Cheney presented in their dueling speeches Thursday, the challenges Obama faces in closing the detainee center and potential Supreme Court nominees.

Click HERE to watch the interview with George Stephanopoulos.

UPDATE: At a press conference this afternoon, Kucinich lashed out at the administration’s plan for U.S. automakers.

“We have $70 billion U.S. dollars being used to close plants and dealership and all this is being done to open the market up to China,” said Kucinich said, who wants the president’s auto task force to halt activities temporarily.

“This is the kind of an auto recovery plan as if someone came in to the hospital and put a pillow over the face of the patient,” he added later.

NRSC Plays Endorsement Game: Crist In, Toomey Still Waiting

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: The Republican establishment is welcoming Gov. Charlie Crist, R-Fla., to the 2010 Senate race in Florida — highlighting his decision to run as a recruiting coup, and offering him an endorsement in a competitive primary.

Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, led a parade of Senate GOP leaders in offering immediate backing for Crist, who is seeking the Republican nomination against state House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Cornyn, R-Texas, said in a statement: “I am pleased today to endorse Governor Charlie Crist for the United States Senate. With his record of reform in Florida, I know that Governor Crist will bring a fresh perspective to Washington in our efforts to fight for lower taxes, less government, and new job creation for all Americans.”

That means the NRSC is making a choice in a competitive primary for an open seat.

As Democrats are pointing out today, that’s exactly what Cornyn is refusing to do in another race that’s been in the news quite a bit of late.

In Pennsylvania — where former Rep. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., is currently only major Republican candidate in the race — Cornyn had a different take on whether the GOP establishment should choose a favored candidate this far out.

“I don’t think it’s wise for me to tell Pennsylvania Republicans who their nominee should be, so I’m not going to do that,” Cornyn said shortly after Sen. Arlen Specter bolted the Republican Party to become a Democrat.

What makes it OK to support a primary candidate in this case?

“From day one, we’ve said that the NRSC would be looking at every 2010 seat on a state-by-state basis,” NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh tells ABC.

“In Pennsylvania, Senator Specter only switched parties days ago, so we’re going to see how the process unfolds out there in the months ahead, just as the Democrats are doing in Ohio where they are facing a very contentious primary. But in Florida, it’s clear that Governor Crist represents the Party’s best opportunity to keep that seat firmly in the Republican corner, and the Democrats know that as well. [Democrats] just saw one of their best pickup opportunities go up in smoke, today so you can’t blame them for doing whatever they can to distract folks from that reality.”

Politically, the calculation is clear enough: Crist is a popular moderate in a critical state, running in a year where Republicans are prepared to play plenty of defense, because of GOP retirements.

Republicans leaders don’t want to drain resources from the general election, and are still hoping to talk Rubio out of a run. Crist, it should be noted, has more solid conservative credentials than Specter ever did.

But the decision to offer institutional support to Crist in Florida but not Toomey in Pennsylvania is unlikely to be greeted well by Toomey and his allies, including the Club for Growth. Toomey’s campaign offered no immediate comment.

UPDATE (5/13/09): The conservative pushback has begun. Erick Erickson, an influential conservative blogger for RedState.org, this morning called on conservatives to boycott the NRSC because of the decision to endorse Crist.

“We can disagree with the NRSC on many things, but this one is a bridge too far,” Erickson writes.

And, in a shot across Crist’s bow, the Club for Growth today issued a statement saying it’s “no wonder the St. Petersburg Times reported, ‘Charlie Crist may turn out to be the closest thing to a Democratic governor Florida will see for some time.’ ”

“Governor Crist still has an opportunity to reject the proposed tax hikes” in the state budget, said the group’s executive director, David Keating.

GOP Lawmaker: Obama was ‘Likeable,’ But My Vote Is Still ‘No’

ABC News’ Viviana Hurtado reports: A Republican House lawmaker writing to ABC News from inside the meeting with President Barack Obama said that before the president arrived for a bipartisan discussion, “there was a fighting mood.”

“We’re against parts of the stimulus, just laughing over the spending on contraceptives to ‘stimulate’ the economy,” said the Republican, who also provided the photo featured below exclusively to ABC News.

But, the “fighting” spirit quickly dissipated, turning “businesslike and academic” once the president addressed the group of lawmakers. Obama started off by promising to listen to GOP concerns about spending, and stated that the days of increasing government for its own sake, are over.

With top economic advisor Larry Summers present to provide heft to his arguments, President Obama pointed to recent announcements of job cuts by Microsoft and Caterpillar, as evidence that the current economic situation is dire, and unemployment could reach double digits if a bold economic stimulus plan–in size and tenor–does not reach his desk for signature soon.

The president then took questions, according to this legislator. Republican lawmakers asked Obama about his willingness to include more tax cuts. They also expressed concerns that ranged from the belief that small businesses were receiving less funds than the allocation to re-sod the national mall, to the fear that income taxes could skyrocket, as could the deficit.

This House lawmaker describes the president as being “at his most charming” and of a “likeable” character. But, some did express concerns that Obama’s pledge of bipartisanship means very little if his Democratic House colleagues will have none of it. The lawmaker said, “behind the scenes, this legislative battle could be shaping up to be one between Mr. Obama and his party’s Congressional leadership, as he tries to convince them to lose what Republicans deem unnecessary spending, such as the contraception measures, and add more tax cuts to achieve a true, bipartisan bill.”

And as far as flipping House Republican votes from no to yes? This lawmakers says right now, his vote is still firmly in the “no” column.