Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Wall Street Journal - December 10, 2007
Laura Meckler, laura.meckler@wsj.com
It was a reference to a convicted rapist who was paroled (not pardoned) when Mr. Huckabee was Arkansas governor, and who went on to murder a woman. It also was an indicator of how the Republicans' hot new presidential prospect faces tougher scrutiny of both his record and his views.
As the crowd left the rally, many found fliers on their car windshields from an anti-Huckabee group called Lynchburg Christian Students for the Truth that criticized him for an array of alleged sins, including the 1996 parole of Wayne DuMond. The group didn't reply to emails seeking comment.
The scrutiny has followed Mr. Huckabee's rise in both national and state polls, including a Newsweek survey that gives him a 2-to-1 lead over Mitt Romney in Iowa. How his campaign handles tough questions will help determine whether he can maintain momentum.
Mr. Huckabee has minimized his role in the DuMond case, although members of the parole board say that he lobbied them to let the convicted rapist out of prison early. And yesterday, he expressed little remorse for positions he took in 1991 regarding AIDS, including his view that AIDS patients should be isolated. At the time, it was known that HIV wasn't transmittable through casual contact.
In a questionnaire submitted to the Associated Press when he was running for Senate in 1992, Mr. Huckabee also opposed greater federal funding for AIDS research and called homosexuality "an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle."
In neither case has he admitted much in the way of personal error. He has said he feels awful about the DuMond murder but said the prisoner's release isn't his fault. And yesterday he said he would word his statements about AIDS "a little differently" today.
Mr. Huckabee risks being seen as a flip-flopper, a charge that dogs Mr. Romney, who has changed his positions on abortion, same-sex marriage and other issues. Much of the Huckabee appeal is as an anti-Romney candidate: He campaigns as someone with deeply held convictions that haven't changed.
Mr. Huckabee is also vulnerable on some key issues, including taxes and immigration. He plans a new TV ad starting today in Iowa emphasizing the need to secure the border.
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