I can understand Rudy’s attraction to Huck since Rudy’s primary loyalty is to himself (as opposed to being committed to his pro-abortion views). Huck’s attraction to Rudy, however, is hard to explain. Why would someone who is allegedly committed to social conservatism want to help an unmitigated disaster for values issues in the GOP get the party’s nomination?
One positive way to interpret it would be that perhaps Huckabee thinks that he could use his position as VP to make sure that values issues don’t get too left off the agenda in a Giuliani administration.
Or, maybe it’s just good old fashioned cynical ambition. Huck believes that Rudy’s going to get it, so might as well hitch his wagon to that horse regardless of the damage it will do to values issues.
Either way, here’s confirmation from the Telegraph:
Giuliani and Huckabee agree to pull punches
By Philip Sherwell in New York and Tim Shipman in Washington
Last Updated: 12:04am GMT 02/12/2007
Rudolph Giuliani, the Republican frontrunner, and Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor now surging up the party’s rankings, are pursuing an unofficial non-aggression pact as they try to knock rivals out of the race for the presidential nomination.
In the week that the battle for the Republican nomination turned ugly in a bad-tempered televised debate, the former New York mayor and the ex-Arkansas governor have been at pains not to knock each other, according to campaign insiders.
Advisors to Mr Giuliani told The Sunday Telegraph that they were deliberately refraining from public criticism of Mr Huckabee, despite his increasing popularity, in the hope that he can derail their mutual rivals, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.
Mr Huckabee, a folksy Baptist minister who is drawing support from the party’s evangelical base, has also gone out of his way to be polite about Mr Giuliani, even though his views on abortion, gun control and gay rights are anathema to Mr Huckabee’s religious supporters.
By contrast, Mr Huckabee has come under increasing fire from Mr Romney for allegedly being soft on illegal immigrants and from Mr Thompson for raising taxes during his 10 years in the Little Rock governor’s mansion.
The peculiarities of the US presidential nomination system explain the importance of the undeclared accord between Mr Giuliani and Huckabee, who have been mentioned as possible running mates on the Republican presidential ticket.
Although Mr Giuliani leads his party’s national polls, he is not expecting to win the early primary-caucus states starting with Iowa on Jan 3. His strategy is based on reasonable finishes in the first votes, then winning Florida in late January before sweeping the board on so-called “Super Duper Tuesday” on Feb 5 when more than 20 states vote, including his major powerbases of New York and California.
His strongest rival for the nomination appears to be Mr Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who has enjoyed long-time leads in the first two states to vote, Iowa and New Hampshire, which traditionally set the tone for the rest of the primary season.
But Mr Huckabee is now running neck-and-neck with the much-better funded Romney campaign in Iowa. If he scores a surprise triumph there, then Mr Giuliani’s bitterest foe - the two men exchanged angry words in Tuesday’s debate - could struggle to recover.
However, some Giuliani supporters are concerned that pulling their punches on Mr Huckabee could allow him to build up enough momentum to become a threat to their own candidate’s stuttering campaign. Although he has no serious support in New Hampshire, he could use a strong showing in Iowa as the springboard for victory in South Carolina, the gateway to the South where his Baptist credentials will serve him well. And recent polls have also shown him on the rise in Florida - the keystone of the Giuliani strategy.
Former Giuliani speechwriter Fred Siegel told The Sunday Telegraph: “Right now, Huckabee is an unmitigated Godsend for Rudy. They have a shared interest in not attacking each other right now, but if Huckabee threatens to upset the apple cart in Florida, then the gloves will be off for the Giuliani campaign. Florida is his firewall.”
A senior Giuliani campaign adviser said: “Huckabee’s strong showing in Iowa has proved helpful to us. He is a very persuasive campaigner and it’s no secret that a lot of people would like him on the shortlist for vice president if Rudy wins the nomination.
“He is a very good campaigner and in many ways he would be a good fit for Rudy - he plays well in states where we would otherwise not be strong.
“But the campaign is watching carefully because if he wins Iowa he could turn that into enough momentum to take South Carolina. Then he might be a threat.”
However, Republican strategist Mike Murphy warned that it might be too late to kill off the Huckabee bandwagon - a problem for Mr Romney now, but potentially for Mr Giuliani later. He said: “Huckabee has got that vote that’s always there waiting for somebody, that 25 to 30 percent of the Republican caucus that’s Christian fundamentalist and, and is a strong vote and they like him. Huckabee will be hard to move down off that number.”
Mr Giuliani’s presidential bid suffered a fresh blow last week after claims that as New York mayor, he billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses for trips to a Long Island town where Judith Nathan, his mistress at the time and now his third wife, had an apartment.
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