Giuliani, Romney Should Consider Huckabee For Running Mate

Joe Bell

The media believe either Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney will be the Republican Party’s presidential candidate. It’s a safe bet. Earlier this month the San Francisco Chronicle reported that, in the Iowa caucus, Romney holds the lead with 26 percent. A Gallup Poll, conducted August 3-5, places Giuliani in the lead nationally at 33 percent.

Conservatives have a number of concerns about both GOP hopefuls with respect to social issues, yet it’s likely more than a few readers agreed with a recent Cal Thomas column in which the writer lamented that in the GOP debates questions about ideology seem to take precedence over matters of competence. Observing that Americans pour an increasingly greater amount of money into the educational system, Thomas said candidates should be asked if they believe cash equals a quality education or if our focus should be on offering more choices to families about which school best serves a child’s needs. It’s an interesting point, but he ignores the reality that the ideology a candidate brings to the table – his ideas about policy issues – is intimately linked to competence. The two cannot be separated. A liberal who believes education is a federal matter and who opposes school choice will not be as able to deal with educational issues as a conservative who realizes education is best addressed at the state and local levels and who supports school choice. The ideology that drives a candidate’s policy choices cannot be separated from competency.

The social records of Giuliani and Romney have sparked concern for conservatives who should nevertheless vote for either for president before helping elevate the presumptive Democrat nominee, Senator Hillary Clinton, to the White House.

In December 2006, the Boston Globe reported that when Romney ran for Massachusetts governor in 2002 he supported Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion. By 2005 he was referring to himself as “firmly pro-life.” Individuals can change their opinions but when it comes to politicians voters can be forgiven if they wonder how sincere the ideological transformation was.

A May 2007 article by Gloria Borger, in U.S. News & World Report, explained how Giuliani poses an even greater dilemma for the right. Borger noted the former New York City mayor is pro-abortion and pro-gay civil rights and then observed that, citing marital infidelity as a major issue, James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, said he would not vote for Giuliani. Dobson said, “I will either cast my ballot for an also-ran or … not vote in a presidential election for the first time in my adult life.”

One cannot help but wonder if the thought of such rhetoric coming his way compelled Romney to modify his abortion position.

Socially liberal Republicans who aspire to the Oval Office must be mindful that not all conservatives will compromise their principles for the sake of victory. While such an attitude merits respect, the right must decide whether it is better to stay at home on Election Day and allow someone like Hillary Clinton to seize the reigns of power, in which case conservatives get nothing they want, or if it is better to vote for someone like Giuliani and at least be assured that America will maintain a strong national defense and stay on track with the war on terrorism.

Socially liberal Republicans seeking the presidency can bolster their credentials with conservatives by choosing a running mate that has credibility on the right. Such an individual is currently running for the GOP nomination and, while his chances of securing the top spot are slim, he is proving himself to be a worthy debater and knowledgeable on the issues. He has a record of achievement as governor of Arkansas.

Mike Huckabee is an ordained Baptist pastor who became governor in 1996. His views on homosexual marriage, abortion and the rights of gun owners are consistently conservative. In September 2006, at the Values Voter Summit, in Washington, D.C., Huckabee told his audience, “I was not a person of politics who embraced faith, I was a person of faith who decided that we needed more of us in politics, and that’s why I’m here.”

That’s the kind of motivation and record that moves conservatives to go to the polls.

Addressing abortion, Huckabee said the pro-life position is not “just a political or philosophical argument; it goes to the very root and heart of what we believe about human life and that is that we value human life.”

The statement draws a clear line between the politics of polls and the politics of conscience. Polls advise a candidate about what policy positions would be politically advantageous to embrace; the conscience advises a candidate about what policy positions are right and just.

Huckabee understands the pragmatic aspect of government. He knows people expect proficiency from their elected officials, just as Thomas noted in his column, but he realizes competence comes from enacting the right policies.

“People expect their government to operate with competence,” Huckabee said, “to deliver results. In the Book of James, the New Testament says that faith without works is dead. All the rhetoric in the world will not overcome if we fail to produce the results.”

As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee cut taxes and fees nearly 100 times. He said the nation’s deficit “is not due to Americans’ being under-taxed but to the government’s over-spending. To control spending, I believe the president should have the line-item veto.”

The evidence shows Huckabee’s presence on the ticket would bolster Giuliani or Romney in the eyes of the right. In addition, should he ascend to national prominence as has Vice President Cheney, it is not inconceivable that Vice President Huckabee could win the White House as have other vice presidents.

The unfamiliar names of past vice presidents – William King, Henry Wilson, Charles Fairbanks and Charles Curtis – remind us that many who held that office labored in anonymity. Others, like Harry Truman and George H.W. Bush, became commander-in-chief.

In his book, “Crapshoot: Rolling the Dice on the Vice Presidency,” Jules Witcover wrote that when Franklin D. Roosevelt was candidate for the vice presidency he said the vice president should be an “executive assistant to the president” and should tackle “large reorganization and administrative questions.” If vice presidents were expected to undertake large and important duties and challenges, Roosevelt said the people would demand the person at the top of the ticket select someone who has the capability to be the chief executive.

Mike Huckabee is currently running for the top slot on the Republican ticket. It is doubtful that he will get the nod but the one who does would be wise to tap him for a running mate – especially if that individual happens to be Giuliani or Romney.

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Joseph Bell has hosted a radio talk show and is a former editorial writer/columnist for several Connecticut newspapers. A former liberal Democrat, Bell has not been on the conservative side of the aisle for very long. He voted for Clinton/Gore in 1992. Abandoning the convictions that he had held and defended through adolescence and into adulthood was not easy. Sincere soul-searching and a commitment to distinguish fact from fiction compelled him to accept that liberal ideology was bankrupt.

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