I ❤ Huckabee?

Perhaps it was the, although somewhat trite Chuck Norris Endorsement. Perhaps not. Although it still feels somewhat conciliative, Mike Huckabee has a good chance at my vote. Why? Ok it was the Chuck Norris thing.

NPR seems to love Huckabee. A "Progressive Conservative" they call him. Is Huckabee the Moderates' candidate? I think he might be, and people smarter than I seem to think so too.

Huckabee, an ordained minister (nothing supplements Gubernatorial paychecks like officiating weddings), will be the first to tell you he's a Christian, but he's just "not angry about it." Under the faith and politics section of his website, I found the following:

"Real faith makes us more humble and mindful, not of the faults of others, but of our own. It makes us less judgmental, as we see others with the same frailties we have."

"The First Amendment requires that expressions of faith be neither prohibited nor preferred."

Man I think I really like this guy. For far too long, bumper sticker Christianity has prostituted itself to politics, and mucked it up for the rest of us. Cut and dry (aka BORING and FRUITLESS) Churchy platitudes were responsible for Bush's second term in office.

I think Huckabee sees both sides of the equation - i.e. No to Abortion, but also No to leaving woman who have kept their child to fend for themselves. Mike's tag I've heard a couple of times has been "Life doesn't begin at conception and end at birth."

And here's a kicker:

"My faith is my life - it defines me. My faith doesn't influence my decisions, it drives them. For example, when it comes to the environment, I believe in being a good steward of the earth. "

Yeah. You read that right.

"The first thing I will do as President is send Congress my comprehensive plan for energy independence. We will achieve energy independence by the end of my second term."

Who doesn't want that?

Huckabee, and here's where my concession comes in, has a few non moderate stances. Namely overall support for the War in Iraq, the continuing operation of the Detention Facility at Guantanamo, and Opposing Same Sex Civil Unions, but what can you do? At this point, Huckabee is a good lead for me. We'll see how it goes. Maybe more Chuck will seal it for me.