THE EVANGELICAL VOTE

Exit polls from Tuesday's primaries show John McCain won those identify themselves as moderates or conservatives but Mike Huckabee won the evangelical vote in Ohio. They divided that vote fairly evenly in Texas.

IRS LOOKING INTO CHURCH OVER POLITICS

The IRS is investigating the First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, California over accusations the church illegally endorsed Mike Huckabee for president. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State complained that pastor Wiley Drake sent out a press release last year that encouraging Christians to give the former Arkansas governor their vote. Wiley also endorsed Huckabee on his Christian radio show. Wiley says those were personal endorsements and not as a representative of his church which would jeopardize the church’s tax-exempt status.

FAITH-BASED VOTING

Mike Huckabee benefited from a strong turnout of born-again evangelical Christians in Virginia's primary. Thirty-seven percent of Virginia Republican voters were born-again evangelical Christians. They voted 63 percent for Huckabee and just 28 percent for John McCain. In Maryland, there were fewer evangelical voters and they supported Huckabee over McCain by a somewhat smaller margin. Among Republicans, Huckabee won the votes of 64 percent of Virginians and half of Marylanders who said they were looking for a candidate who shared their values.

THEY SAID IT: HUCKABEE

James Dobson's "still got a lot of credibility with people across the country, and is looked to as the remaining mega-giant within evangelical circles, and so I think it's a very significant endorsement." - Mike Huckabee on his endorsement by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson

DOBSON TO GIVE ENDORSEMENT

Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee had long sought the endorsement of the founder of Focus on the Family – and now he’s apparently going to get it. The Associated Press reports that James Dobson is about to endorse Huckabee’s presidential bid despite Huckabee's recent comments chastising Dobson for his comments about John McCain. Dobson says he could not go along with front-runner John McCain because of his support of embryonic stem cell research, his opposition to a federal anti-gay marriage amendment and for his use of foul language. Dobson had never endorsed a GOP presidential hopeful during the primary campaign.

HUCKABEE TAKES ISSUE WITH DOBSON

James Dobson has said he would not support Senator John McCain if he were the Republican nominee. The founder of Focus on the Family complains that McCain “voted for embryonic stem-cell research to kill nascent human beings”. But candidate Mike Huckabee says he disagrees and that conservatives who won’t support McCain are “more about themselves than they are the cause. Because there's no way that a true conservative would vote for Hillary Clinton”.

COMEDIANS FIGHT OVER HUCKABEE

Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are fighting over which one is behind the success of Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Fueled by the writers strike that has left all three without their typical supply of material, the comedians have been appearing on each other’s shows to continue the mock feud over the past few weeks. It started with O'Brien claiming responsibility for Huckabee's campaign after the former Arkansas governor appeared on his Late Night show. Stephen Colbert has often mentioned how Huckabee has beneifited from the Colbert bump in the polls. They gathered on Monday on all three shows for a pretend fight. At the end, Huckabee appeared by satellite and said, "Let's be clear: None of these guys made me. This great nation made me. So vote for me. God bless America and forget these three idiots.”

FLORIDA GOP PRIMARY RESULTS

The Evangelical vote was split among three candidates:
Mike Huckabee 30%
Mitt Romney 30%
John McCain 28%
The Republican pro-choice vote went this way in Florida:
John McCain 43%
Mitt Romney 26%
Rudy Giuliani 20%
Source: CBS News Florida exit poll

A NEW BAPTIST COVENANT

A convocation of Baptist denominations and organizations will meet next week in Atlanta – prompted in part by former President Jimmy Carter. The Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant may draw as many as 10,000 people for the three day gathering designed to give moderates in the denomination a greater national voice. Among the speakers: Former Vice President Al Gore, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and writer John Grisham. Mike Huckabee accepted an invitation but withdrew after Carter called the Bush administration the "worst in history" in international relations. Two moderate Sothern Baptist organizations are taking part: The Baptist General Association of Virginia and the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“HUCK AND THE EUCHARIST”

St. Lake City’s Public radio station, KCPW, has apologized for airing a skit about presidential candidate Mike Huckabee called Huck and the Eucharist. Listeners heard it on January 7th as part of the Fair Game with Faith Salie program. Among other things, it offered a “Huckabee family recipe” called “Deep-Fried Body of Christ - boring holy wafers no more. Take one Eucharist. Preferably post transubstantiation. Deep-fry in fat, not vegetable oil, ladies, until crispy. Serve piping hot." Hundreds of angry email came in to the station.

IOWA EVANGELICALS TURNOUT

Mike Huckabee’s win in Iowa's caucuses can be credited to a turnout by Evangelicals. Entrance polls show that about 60% of Republican caucus-goers describe themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians and nearly half of them voted for Mr. Huckabee. Only 20% of them say they were going to vote for former Massachusetts Governor Romney.

“INTIMIDATION” LETTER TO CHURCHES

Some pastors in Iowa were surprised by anonymous letters they got in the mail warning them that they could be prosecuted for supporting Republican Mike Huckabee. The letters had no return address and was signed Concerned Christian, arrived before Thursday's precinct caucuses. Another letter claimed the IRS was investigating churches tha back candidates in violation of tax rules. One pastor called it “intimidation”. One letter had exaggerated punctuation and a spelling mistake.

HUCKABEE & HAGEE

Mike Huckabee’s recent visit to San Antonio’s Cornerstone church has drawn complaints from the Catholic League. They say John Hagee, pastor of the church, disparages Catholics. The one-time Baptist preacher stopped to give a special Christmas sermon. Huckabee called Hagee, who is known for his teaching on end-time prophecy, "one of the great Christian leaders of our nation."