My choice ... Huckabee

My night at the New Hampshire Presidential Debates in Durham a few weeks back was different than I'd expected. I'd thought I'd be accompanied by my eldest (a politico in DC) and my good liberal Democrat friend.

Life intervened and my kiddo won her prized job in DC and my friend had a commitment she could not shake.

I pressed my 15 year old son and 16 year old daughter into being my companions.

They were not pleased. It seemed it was going to be the most boring event ever forced upon them. There was a virtual coup in the SUV on the way to Durham. If either had had a license, I have no doubt they would have forced me to the side of the road, dumped me in the back and headed to Hampton for fried dough.

But instead, we scarfed down pasta and tasty cakelets at the pre-dinner and made our way in to the debate. Slowly they were won over by the hoopla and the pageantry.

And then the real fun began! Their highlight of the night (and mine) was the heated exchange between Rep. Ron Paul and Gov. Mike Huckabee over our role in Iraq.

Yes, I pretty strongly lean to the libertarian side of things. I believe that we work best when we govern least. But I'm a realist and was glad to see Gov. Huckabee fire back at Paul. His cut and run would absolutely destroy our military.

Huckabee showed life, a grasp of the issues and an ability to articulate. Guiliani came off as a recording ("What I did in New York"), Romney seemed robotic and lifeless, McCain seemed like a tired, wise (and a little bit cranky) grampa. The others were almost absent from the stage, except for Paul ... whose libertarianism seemed more crazed than sage.

I'm an evangelical Christian. I believe (as my sporadic posts show) that faith MUST inform politics... that it does whether we admit it or not. I believe that it is our duty to serve in the temporal world as well as the spiritual one. And this service takes the place of being well-informed citizens.

But I am NOT a lock-step evangelical conservative. I am conservative and libertarian. That is an informed decision primarily from my faith. But I am deeply suspicious of most of the moves to get an evangelical power base.

So I come to my support of Gov. Huckabee NOT because he is an evangelical like myself. I come to my support because he makes sense. He seems to be a man of his word. He is a principled pragmatist.

AND I believe he is in touch with what I believe is the biggest issue our country faces, our deep divide. His "Vertical Politics" that seeks to reach the issues and deal with them and strip the left/right argument resonates with me.

So today I have signed up to work for and be a part of the Gov. Mike Huckabee for President campaign.

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