Huckabee Aims for South Carolina

Posted: Jan. 10, 2008

Propelled in Iowa by evangelicals' support, Mike Huckabee is trying for a repeat victory in South Carolina, where religion is woven even more tightly into the fabric of life.

A win there in the January 19 primary would keep the former Southern Baptist minister and Arkansas governor in strong contention for the Republican presidential nomination, no matter how he does in the Michigan voting that comes first.

"He is tailor-made for South Carolina voters, better so than Bush in 2000," contends former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley, a Huckabee backer. But Huckabee's hardly alone in seeking - and gaining - support from evangelicals.

Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson have won important endorsements. John McCain is trying to mend fences after a difficult primary experience in South Carolina in 2000.

As in Iowa, where he won the Republican caucuses, the cash-strapped Huckabee is relying on pastors to help get out the vote. And he also has the support of some in the political establishment - Beasley is one - giving him organizing power he lacked in other early voting states. That could make a difference to pragmatic evangelical voters, who want a candidate who could actually win the nomination.

His background has given him some advantages. He spoke in early November at a "pastors' policy briefing" similar to those staged in Iowa and New Hampshire, where local pastors can meet with national Christian Huckabee supporters.

"He's had wonderful opportunities to talk to the 'grasstops,' these pastors who preach to hundreds of people, while not spending any money," said Oran Smith, executive director of the Palmetto Family Council, an anti-abortion group that has remained neutral on the presidential race. "Being a Baptist minister and a candidate for president, no one would want to turn him away."

White evangelicals account for 53 percent of the state's likely Republican voters, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Still, they "are not a monolithic group here and don't always vote together," cautioned Danielle Vinson, a political science professor at Furman University in Greenville. "Their leadership isn't giving them very clear signals this time, either."

South Carolina's political and religious elite have scattered endorsements across the GOP field:

- Huckabee has the support of Republican Rep. Bob Inglis, who represents one swath of the state's northwest corner, or Upstate - the Bible Belt of South Carolina. Some influential Southern Baptist ministers have spoken warmly of Huckabee but are avoiding endorsements.

- Bob Jones III of the fundamentalist Bob Jones University has endorsed Romney, helping the former Massachusetts governor as some evangelicals worried about his Mormon faith. Romney also was endorsed by Sen. Jim DeMint, an Upstate politician who is influential in the Presbyterian Church in America, headquartered in neighboring Georgia.

- Fred Thompson, who is pinning his campaign survival on a strong South Carolina finish, was endorsed by South Carolina Citizens for Life. The endorsement came when Thompson was running second to abortion rights supporter Rudy Giuliani. Holly Gatling, the anti-abortion group's executive director, said this week her group still strongly backs Thompson, though its main goal is to prevent the former New York mayor from winning.

Another question is the resurgent McCain, who has sought to mend relations with evangelicals after his bitter South Carolina defeat in 2000. McCain has a strong advocate in Lindsey Graham, the state's other U.S. senator.

In 2000, the Christian Coalition was credited with boosting George W. Bush by distributing material spotlighting "disturbing facts about John McCain," including his stances on stem-cell research and campaign finance overhaul. In one sign of how South Carolina's evangelical dynamics have changed, the weakened coalition is sitting out this primary altogether.

Huckabee supporters are quick to point out that many of the state's endorsements came before their candidate emerged as a conservative contender.

Among the state's 700,000 Southern Baptists, support for Huckabee is mixed, but many now view him as an electable candidate who shares their evangelical values, said Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page, a pastor in Taylors, South Carolina "Baptists are pragmatists who support those who they believe to be electable and consistent with pro-family policies," Page said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Some evangelicals are wary of Huckabee, believing he is too liberal on issues such as poverty, health care and the environment. Page, while not endorsing anyone, dismissed those criticisms, calling Huckabee a "caring, genuine, humble person."

In the final campaign stretch in South Carolina, Huckabee backers will distribute voter guides and air radio announcements urging Christian pastors to speak out on moral issues and encourage people to vote, said Janet Folger, a Florida-based talk show host and co-chair of Huckabee's Faith and Family Values Coalition.

In Iowa, pro-Huckabee pastors reported receiving unsigned letters warning them that getting involved in the race would endanger their churches' tax-exempt status - and Folger said she expects more of the same.

During a rally Wednesday at a hotel ballroom in Spartanburg, Huckabee found a receptive audience that included a homeschooling mother, abortion rights opponents and a woman who said she learned only recently Huckabee was a minister.

Jessie Davis, a 27-year-old mother of three from Inman, South Carolina, held her youngest, 8-month old Abbie, in her arms. Davis said the No. 1 thing that attracted her to Huckabee was "Christian values."

"He's going to ask God what do before he asks somebody else," Davis said after the rally. "God designed everything. He knows how it's supposed to work."

Republicans, Democrats Have 1st Gubernatorial Debate

Research Triangle Park — The leading Republican and Democratic candidates for governor debated about the Roanoke Rapids theater, college tuition, taxes and immigration Thursday night in a televised debate that focused on the state's economy.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and State Treasurer Richard Moore argued at the close of the hour-long debate. The Republican candidates – Salisbury attorney Bill Graham, former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr and state Sen. Fred Smith – had answered identical questions during their turn on the University of North Carolina television studio stage.

The candidates want to win their May 6 primaries and ultimately succeed Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, who is barred by state law from running this year for a third consecutive term.

The Republican candidates opened the evening with a debate that swirled around economy, managing growth and illegal immigration.

Smith recommended four changes to prevent illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses or voting fraudulently. He also criticized Easley for supporting the community college's policy allowing illegal immigrants to enroll.

They are "picking and choosing which laws they want to enforce," Smith said. "That's not a good example for our people."

Orr remained opposed to targeted tax incentives to bring large companies to the state, as he has since he stepped down from the state Supreme Court in 2004. He said the limited economic development money the state has should be used for work force training and create an environment of innovation.

"We paid hundreds of millions (of dollars) to bring Google to North Carolina for 200 jobs and a server farm," Orr said, referring to an incentives package in Caldwell County. "We want North Carolina to be the place where the next Google starts and grows."

Graham and Smith said such tax breaks can be useful at times if used properly. Earlier, the two candidates have said financial assistance to companies can be helpful if targeted to attract new business.

All three GOP candidates, however, said they subscribed to the philosophy that the best prescription for job growth is lowering tax rates and improving infrastructure. Graham said North Carolina needs to widen its interstates and major road arteries, while Smith said his business background will help the state control spending.

Graham called for greater transparency in state government – even to installing Web cameras in the House and Senate.

"We've got to do a better job and have more responsible government in Raleigh," he said.

Moore and Perdue's testy comments and traded barbs dominated the second half of the evening, as the candidates continued their back-and-forth that started last fall.

Perdue took the offensive; on a question about illegal immigration, she instead criticized Moore's leadership on a state panel that approved $21 million in debt used by Roanoke Rapids to build a music theater for Randy Parton.

Public records show Parton spent public money on alcohol and trips to Las Vegas. City officials have kept him from performing since early December and renamed the venue.

"A lot of us have been watching what's going (on) with Randy Parton's party palace," Perdue said, asking Moore to release more documents on the projects. "We'd like to know the background on it. We'd like to know why the decisions were made."

Moore said everything has been made public and Perdue did not have her facts straight. He criticized the lieutenant governor for failing to support Roanoke Rapids, whose economy was hit hard by textile losses.

"It's just so typical of someone who has led the 'go along, get along' club in Raleigh for 20 years," Moore said of Perdue, who first entered the General Assembly in the mid-1980s. "Research Triangle Park took 30 years to be successful. All of these things take time."

Moore accused Perdue of supporting tuition increases at the Legislature while pushing a "college promise" program that would help students attend college debt-free if they keep good grades, stay out of trouble and perform community service.

"It's not about making more promises. It's about making better decisions," Moore said.

Perdue responded by referring to Moore's campaign donations from investment managers as a sign he was out of touch with average North Carolinians.

"Do you want a candidate from Wall Street, or do you want a candidate from Main Street?" Perdue asked the television audience.

Moore won favor nationally for his efforts at corporate accountability on Wall Street.

In addition to the three GOP contenders, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory appears ready to become a late entry into the race.

McCrory filed the state paperwork needed to raise campaign money for governor, and a leading Republican in Guilford County said McCrory would make an announcement next Tuesday in Jamestown, where he went to high school. McCrory declined comment Thursday on his future.

By not deciding sooner, McCrory may have missed a chance to raise his profile outside the Charlotte television market – for free – and let his potential challengers make positive impressions first before the May 6 primary.

UNC-TV did not invite announced Democratic candidate Dennis Nielsen and Libertarian candidate Mike Munger to participate in the debate.

The channel has planned two more televised forums, on health care Feb. 7 and on education April 24.

WRAL-TV will air a debate among the Republican candidates on Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. A Democratic debate scheduled for Jan. 24. was canceled after Perdue declined WRAL's invitation.

Earlier Thursday, Moore campaign manager Jay Reiff complained that Perdue failed to agree to WRAL-TV's debate and cable's News 14 Carolina debates in March or April. Perdue spokesman David Kochman said the lieutenant governor could not fit the WRAL offer into her schedule or commit to News 14.

Huckabee Says He's OK With Third

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Casting himself as an "unknown Southern boy," Mike Huckabee said Tuesday his third-place finish in the New Hampshire primary was good enough to sustain his Iowa-propelled candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.

He pledged to forge ahead in hopes of doing better in coming contests.

"Tonight we're going to come out of here with continued momentum," Huckabee told supporters.

The former governor of Arkansas used his come-from-behind Iowa victory to catapult him out of the back of the Republican pack in New Hampshire.

He was never a threat to Tuesday's victor, John McCain, or to Mitt Romney, who finished second.

But he had hoped for a third-place finish to keep him breathing political oxygen as he heads into friendlier states.

"In Michigan, in South Carolina, in Florida ... what you helped us continue will be carried right on through, and it won't be long before we're going to be able to secure the nomination and on to the White House and on to leading America," he said.

Polls in Michigan and South Carolina show him leading or in a tie for first place. Until now, his main rival had been Romney, but as he moves on he will have to compete more directly with McCain as well, who is also counting on Michigan and South Carolina to propel his campaign.

New Hampshire, unlike Iowa, is not a state with a large evangelical population.

Indeed, about a fifth of the New Hampshire GOP voters interviewed in exit polls said they were born again or evangelical voters, compared to the six in 10 who said so in last week's Iowa Republican caucuses.

Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, had roughly a third of the support of evangelicals, giving him a slight edge over McCain and Romney.

"We just sensed that we were going to do better than a lot of people thought that this unknown Southern boy could possibly do up here in New England," he told supporters assembled at a Manchester golf club.

While in Iowa, Huckabee had played up his religious values, most famously in a Christmas season ad where he spoke of celebrating the birth of Christ. But as he turned to New Hampshire, he instead stressed an economic populism and a political unification much like Democrat Barack Obama.

His ads in the state also focused on his economic record as governor, an attempt to neutralize independent ads against him that have characterized him as a tax raiser.

His supporters on the stump ranged from home-schooling parents to supporters of his plan to eliminate the income tax and replace it with a national sales tax. Compared to his leading rivals, he has been operating on a shoestring budget.

"We thought that if we could finish in the top, we kept saying four or five, we'd feel pretty good about that, knowing just how tough it's been to try to break through. But tonight, you've given us so much more than we could have imagined just a few days or weeks ago," Huckabee said.

As he shook hands outside St. John's, Huckabee encountered the family of Mark Bruno, who had driven three and a half hours from Connecticut with his wife and two home-schooled boys to hold placards for Huckabee at the precinct site.

Bruno described himself as an anti-abortion Democrat who would vote for Huckabee in his state's presidential contest February 5. "He puts the country before the party and wants to stop all this left-right nonsense," Bruno said.

Year-Round Schools Debate Goes Before Appeals Court

Raleigh — The fight to keep year-round schools voluntary returned to court Wednesday with attorneys for the Wake County school board and a parents group presenting arguments before the Court of Appeals.

The appeals court's decision could affect more than 130,000 students and their families.

Last May, Superior Court Judge Howard Manning forced the Wake County Board of Education to get parental permission before assigning students to year-round schools.

Wake County Board of Education Attorney Ann Majestic argued that nowhere in state law do statutes limit a school board's authority to assign students to year-round schools and nowhere do they require districts to make them voluntary.

"In this case, we have a decision that ignores clear statutory language and invents language that is not there," Majestic said. "There is no evidence in the statutes of a requirement of informed parental consent before a student can be assigned to a year-round school."

Attorney Robert Hunter, who represents the plaintiff, WakeCARES, argued parents are entitled to a uniform educational experience that is nine consecutive months.

Majestic pointed out that law only specifies dates when school boards can set school calendars and that a school year must be nine months in length. Year-round schools, she argued, operate on a nine-weeks-on-three-weeks-off schedule and are consistent. Traditional calendar schools actually run about 11 months, she said.

WakeCARES contends that forcing students to switch schedules would be unfair and would disrupt family life. Members have said they are hoping the three-member appeals court panel will agree with Manning's decision to keep year-round voluntary.

“I have faith in the process,” group member Kathleen Brennan. “I feel like Judge Manning made a good, strong ruling.”

Wake school leaders say most of the district's 49 year-round schools are now under-enrolled because of that ruling. Twenty-nine had 40 or more students opt out. Five of those schools had more than 100 students leave.

School officials say year-round schools are necessary to help the system manage its booming student population, because they accommodate about 25 percent more students. While three-quarters of students are in class, one quarter is always on break.

The school board says that's important in a place growing as fast as Wake County.

“Year-round gives us the capacity we need. The statute gives us the authority to assign, and we do give parents options,” said school board Chair Rosa Gill.

WakeCARE members and supporters of year-round schools were at Wednesday's hearing, including the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African-American Children. It maintains the board will have "a much more difficult time integrating schools if their right to assign students is diminished."

Some Campaign for Earlier N.C. Primary

Raleigh — Voters in more than 40 states will have cast their ballots in presidential primaries before North Carolina voters head to the polls on May 6, prompting officials to revisit the idea of moving the state's primary up on the calendar.

The Republican and Democratic candidates will likely be decided before the North Carolina primary, which makes it difficult to attract candidates to come to the state to campaign. Observers say that deprives residents of meeting and listening to contenders in person and deprives the state of the national exposure and campaign spending that places like Iowa and New Hampshire receive.

"North Carolina is not a player on the national scene," said Gary Bartlett, executive director of the State Board of Elections.

"When it comes to presidential politics, there's no reason to show up to the polls. We are just completely cast out of that process," said Damon Circosta, acting executive director of the North Carolina Center For Voter Education.

Circosta's group backed a plan last year to move the state's primary from May to late January or early February, but the bill died in the General Assembly.

"There are several important people in this state who are running for statewide office, and they didn't want to move their election schedule up just to accommodate the presidency," he said.

Bartlett said it was "too late in the process going into the election year" to move up the 2008 primary.

He said the state could create a separate presidential primary that would preserve the traditional vetting process for state candidates. It would cost an additional $5 million, however, and it could erode voter turnout in May.

Complicating matters even more, several other states have already pushed toward the front of the line. Michigan, Nevada, South Carolina, Hawaii, and Florida hold primaries over the next two weeks before the 24 state primaries scheduled for "Super Tuesday" on Feb. 5.

"We're going to need a national solution. That's going to require something like a rotating regional primary," Circosta said.

Iowans send a message to Tar Heels

The Iowa caucusses sent several significant messages that might reverberate in North Carolina.

It is clear that voters want change from politics as usual. Young voters swarmed to participate in the electoral process. Some 56 percent of Democratic voters were voting for the first time.

Hillary Clinton was the hands-down frontrunner, the best known candidate with the biggest star power. Two-thirds of the voters said they didn't want Hillary, proving that her negatives are as high as many suspected. This is the beginning of the end of her campaign.

Barak Obama catapulted into the lead, proving that Whites will vote for a Black man.

John Edwards had a respectable second place finish but doesn't have the funds and won't likely get the support he needs to win the nomination.

Mike Huckabee produced an even more incredible win, coming on strong to beat the wealthy Mitt Romney. The media is trying to emphasize the impact evangelical Christians played in Huckabee's victory but only time will tell whether this is a significant and important factor.

What does this mean in North Carolina? I think young people also want change and may insert themselves into this year's elections. If the national candidates end up being Obama and Huckabee leaders of both state parties will likely be pleased with the potential benefit the respective candidate has on their ticket in November. While Huckabee may not be as far to the right as many state Republicans want he has the bona fides they need. Democrats will be happy not to have a presidential nominee with such high negatives.

If the two end up being the standard bearers for their respective parties the election could be extremely exciting and draw voters to the polls.

What's your spin on Thursday's Iowa vote? How do you think this will impact the upcoming vote in New Hampshire and neighboring South Carolina? Most importantly, how might this impact the elections in North Carolina?

Court Takes Up Lethal Injection Case

Associated Press Writer

Posted: Today at 5:10 a.m.
Updated: Today at 5:09 p.m.

WASHINGTON — A quarter-century has elapsed since the U.S. experienced as long a pause in executions as the one the Supreme Court has occasioned with its current examination of lethal injections.

No one has been put to death since September 25 and the earliest that executions are likely to resume is in the summer. Forty-two people were executed in 2007, the lowest total in 13 years. Last month, New Jersey became the first state in four decades to abolish the death penalty.

But when the justices return from their holiday break and hear arguments Monday in a lethal injection case from Kentucky, their questions are unlikely to focus on whether capital punishment or even the method of lethal injection is right or wrong.

The two death row inmates whose challenge is before the court are not asking to be spared execution or death by injection. Their argument, at its most basic, is that there are ways to get the job done relatively pain-free.

So the court could delve into a highly technical, almost medical, discussion of how executions work in practice:

-Does the condemned prisoner receive enough anesthesia to knock him out?

-Do the people who insert intravenous lines know what they are doing?

-Is it best to use a combination of three drugs?

-Would it work better to deliver a fatal overdose of barbituates? That is the method used by terminally ill people in Oregon and by veterinarians in most parts of the country who put animals to sleep.

The court also will be weighing what risk of pain is acceptable for prisoners who are being put to death for horrendous crimes and what standard judges should use in evaluating the risk.

Ralph Baze and Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr. were convicted of murder and sentenced to death by juries in Kentucky. Baze killed a sheriff and a deputy who were attempting to arrest him. Wounded and lying face down, the deputy was killed with a shot to the back of the head at close range.

Bowling shot and killed a couple and wounded their 2-year-old son outside their dry-cleaning business. A motive never has been clear.

The two men, in a 2004 lawsuit, claimed that lethal injection as practiced by Kentucky amounts to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The state's procedures - similar to those on the books in three dozen states - "create a significant and unnecessary risk of inflicting severe pain that could be prevented by the adoption of reasonable safeguards," their lawyers argue in court papers.

The lawyers say other states routinely botch executions by using poorly trained people, complex procedures and even dim lighting that makes it hard for the executioner to see what he is doing. The procedures in many states are kept secret, making challenges to the procedures difficult.

Florida and Ohio had recent executions in which workers had trouble inserting the IV lines that are used to deliver the drugs. As a result, the executions took much longer than usual, with strong indications that the prisoners suffered severe pain in the process.

Unlike those well-publicized cases, however, Kentucky's only experience with lethal injection did not present any obvious problems.

The prisoners' lawyers, however, say that focusing on an individual execution obscures the larger point. Repeated executions "using the three-drug formula and Kentucky's inadequate procedures would produce torturous deaths in at least some cases," they say.

The state defends its procedures, which Kentucky courts have upheld. "Kentucky seeks to execute them in a relatively humane manner and has worked hard to adopt such a procedure," Kentucky Attorney General Gregory Stumbo said.

The Bush administration, backing the state, argues that because the Supreme Court has said capital punishment is constitutional, there must be some method for carrying it out. "Were it otherwise, the result would be to render capital punishment constitutional in theory, but unconstitutional in practice," Solicitor General Paul Clement said.

The case could come down to an examination of the three drugs that are administered in succession to knock out, paralyze and kill prisoners.

The argument against the three-drug protocol is that if the initial anesthetic does not take hold, a third drug that stops the heart can cause excruciating pain. But that pain would be masked by the second drug that paralyzes the prisoner and renders him unable to express his discomfort.

Veterinarians have sided with the prisoners to point out that Kentucky requires animal euthanasia to be done by injecting a single drug, a barbituate that causes minimal pain.

If the court decides that the three-drug mix is problematic, it could order states to develop a different procedure.

A decision that reaches so deeply into the mechanics of execution probably would mean a lengthy delay before executions resume.