political stories
Huckabee Steps Back Into the Pulpit at Evangelical Church in N.H.
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 7, 2008; A07
(Full Story at the following link)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/06/AR200801
0602261_pf.html
WINDHAM, N.H., Jan. 6 -- A pastor from Texas was scheduled to deliver
the sermon Sunday at a church here called the Crossing.
But instead this small evangelical congregation heard from a different
special guest: Baptist minister and 2008 presidential candidate Mike
Huckabee, who delivered a sermon of more than 20 minutes on how to be
part of "God's Army" in the middle school cafeteria where the
congregation meets.
"When we become believers, it's as if we have signed up to be part of
God's Army, to be soldiers for Christ," Huckabee told the enthusiastic
audience.
Days after winning the Iowa Republican caucus, where Christian
conservatives powered him to victory, Huckabee now finds himself in a
state without an extensive religious base. While more than 60 percent of
GOP voters were estimated to be evangelicals in the Iowa caucuses, they
accounted for only about one in five New Hampshire Republican voters in
2000, the last time the state held a competitive GOP primary.
Huckabee's campaign did not allow cameras into the church, and the
candidate did not make an appeal for votes as part of his sermon. But a
church official invited members to attend an event a mile away, where
Huckabee held a rally with actor Chuck Norris and where free clam
chowder was served.
Huckabee mixed homespun jokes into his sermon and added a more religious
tone than in his political speeches, not just quoting from the Bible but
citing specific verses and talking about the serious side of faith.
Huckabee, sitting in the front row beside his wife, Janet, seemed to
know most of the songs without reading the words and praised the guitar
player as being better than he is. And he said he enjoyed the upbeat
service, which included tambourine and drums and children running under
flags that were waved during the songs.
"If we know the Lord, there ought to be joy," Huckabee said.
