Huckabee's Appeal to Factions

Mike Huckabee is trying to drum up political support by telling evangelicals that his candidacy represents their chance to lead the Republican Party.

This is a good strategy for Huckabee. By identifying himself with evangelicals, he wins a powerful, energized, diligent constituency full of first rate human beings.

But his appeal is dangerous for the Republican Party as a whole. I stand second to no one in my respect for evangelical/Christian conservatives. But it's no secret that there are many stripes of Republicans, many of whom would be uncomfortable remaining in a party that is led by a man who has marketed himself as the champion of just one segment of the party -- i.e., of Christian conservatives. (The same objection would obtain if Rudy Giuliani tried to appeal to pro-choice conservatives to vote for him so that they could come to power, or if McCain did the same with moderate New England Republicans).

Successful candidates have to unify a party, not promote themselves as the stalking horse of one faction of it. And the factions to which the appeals are directed have to remember that it's better to be a respected, vital constituency inside a successful party that equipped through electoral victory to enact an agenda than to "rule" a smaller, impotent party that can't win elections.