Why Evangelical Leaders Aren't Lovin' On Huck

As a follow-up to Bob Novak's horrendous article on Baptist support of Mike Huckabee, Deborah Caldwell who is the managing editor of Beliefnet.com has a similar article titled "Baptist Civil War Fallout, Or Why Evangelical Leaders Aren't Lovin' On Huck."

Here's her conclusion:

So today, while some Baptists have endorsed him —including Ronnie Floyd—others have not. Judge Pressler is behind Thompson; Patterson is neutral; so is Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (and a Casting Stones contributor).

And while all of these non-endorsing Baptist leaders have good things to say about Huckabee, the fact that they won’t endorse him or act on his behalf is crucial, in my opinion. It’s a signal to other evangelical leaders, such as Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation, who endorsed Romney; Sam Brownback, who endorsed John McCain; Pat Robertson, who endorsed Rudy Giuliani; James Dobson of Focus on the Family who remains officially neutral; and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, also officially neutral. And I think it tells evangelical voters, particularly Southern Baptists, all they need to know.

It is true that Paul Pressler did not endorse Mike Huckabee. However, Caldwell does not mention that Huckabee has the support of Tim and Beverly LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins of Left Behind fame, Jerry Falwell Jr., Homeschool leader Michael Farris, Don Wildmon of the American Family Association, Rick Scarborough and presumably Christian Zionist John Hagee. All of these men (+ one woman) have huge national followings. And all are about as far outside of the mainstream as one can be. And all undoubtedly wield real influence. And frankly, Huckabee's positioning as the candidate of choice for many Christian Right leaders should be a cause of concern for those of us in mainstream America.

Nonetheless, Caldwell needs to reconsider how many Southern Baptists in the pews are actually influenced by fundamentalist leaders of the past like Paul Pressler. Outside of the beltway, how much influence does Sir Richard Land sling around? If Southern Baptists took their cues from Richard Land and Paul Pressler - I expect Fred Thompson would be doing just a bit better in the polls right now.