Republican Mike
Huckabee spoke from the pulpit Sunday, not as a
politician but as the preacher he used to be, delivering a
sermon on how merely being good isn't enough to get
into heaven.
Huckabee is vying
for support from the Christian conservatives who
dominate the GOP in South Carolina, which chooses a
Republican presidential nominee on Saturday. A former
Baptist minister and Arkansas governor, Huckabee is
competing for their votes with fellow Southerner Fred
Thompson.
As in Iowa, where
he won the January 3 caucuses, Huckabee is rousing
pastors to marshal their flocks for him. He pitches himself
as someone who not only shares their views against
abortion and gay marriage but who actually comes from
their ranks.
On Sunday in
South Carolina, Huckabee avoided politics entirely, instead
preaching about humility and trusting in Jesus to open the
gates of heaven.
''The criteria to
get into heaven is you have to be not good, but
perfect. That's the real challenge in it,'' he said at First
Baptist North Spartanburg, a megachurch with 2,500
members.
''On that day,
when I pull up, I'll be asked, 'Do you have what it takes
to get in?''' Huckabee said. ''And if I ask, 'Well, what
does it take to get in?' 'Gotta be perfect.'''
''Well, I'm
afraid I don't have that, but you know what, I won't be
there alone that day. Somebody is going to be with me.
His name is Jesus, and he's promised that he would
never leave me or forsake me,'' he said.
Asked by
reporters later if he thinks only Christians will go to
heaven, Huckabee refused to say. He often says that as
a minister, he joked that he doesn't even believe all
Baptists are going to heaven.
''I'm going to
stick to the things that make it critical for me to be
president of the United States,'' Huckabee said Sunday. ''I
have deep convictions about who goes and who doesn't,
but as far as who makes that decision, it isn't me,
it's God. I'm going to leave that up to him.''
He argued that
the Constitution forbids a political candidate from being
subjected to a religious litmus test. And he claimed to be
the only candidate who gets asked about specific
tenets of his faith.
However,
Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has also been asked about
his Mormon faith. In fact, Romney got questions about
his faith after Huckabee, in The New York
Times, asked whether Mormons believe Jesus and the
devil were brothers. Huckabee quickly apologized to Romney
and said the quotes were taken out of context.
In South
Carolina, Huckabee didn't ask for votes or discuss the
campaign, but senior pastor Michael S. Hamlet
encouraged the congregation to vote according to how
they try to live their lives, by the principles of Bible
scripture.
''I'm going to
tell you something, when you go vote, you ought to follow
those principles,'' Hamlet said.
But Huckabee did
wade into politics Sunday evening in Michigan, telling
members of the Apostolic Church of Auburn Hills about his
opposition to abortion and gay marriage, and
expressing his concern about job losses in the state.
He played bass guitar in the praise band and, before he
spoke, the organist played a few notes of ''Hail to
the Chief.''
Huckabee's
shoestring campaign has relied on pastors to encourage their
flocks to vote.
''They can't
mobilize for example, from the pulpit, get up and say to
everybody, 'The bus leaves the church at 8 a.m. on
Saturday.' It's a matter of urging them to use the
influence they have to get their people out to vote,
and I hope they will. Why wouldn't they?'' Huckabee said.
Huckabee also is
hoping to win over the Christian conservatives who
dominate the GOP in Michigan, which votes Tuesday. He
emphasized his opposition to abortion during a meeting
with about 100 pastors in Grand Rapids on Saturday,
urging them to use their address books and e-mail
lists to mobilize others.
Polls there have
shown him running in third place, behind Romney and
Arizona senator John McCain, winner of the New Hampshire
primary last week.
In contrast to
Huckabee, Thompson held no public events Sunday in South
Carolina, where Huckabee has the edge following his Iowa
caucus win. (Libby Quaid, AP)
