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Huckabee frustrated by debate format Wednesday, Jun 6, 2007 By Aaron Sadler Stephens Washington Bureau GOFFSTOWN, N.H. - Mike Huckabee strongly defended his stands on evolution and abortion Tuesday in his effort to emerge from a crowded Republican presidential field, then went on the offensive against what he said was an unfair debate format. Huckabee charged he did not get the questions nor the airtime he wanted in a debate televised nationally by CNN. He bashed the network and debate moderator Wolf Blitzer for focusing on the three Republican frontrunners instead of him and six other hopefuls in the event at Saint Anselm College near Manchester, N.H. "It's the responsibility, I believe, of the moderator to make sure the format gives the viewer ... a chance tonight to see which one of us on stage, of the 10 candidates, was really capable of talking to the issues that they're talking about at the dinner table at home tonight," Huckabee said after the debate. And despite what experts saw as a solid showing by the Arkansan, Huckabee said the network faltered. CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson said Blitzer was very diligent about cutting off long responses to giving every candidate a chance to participate in the two-hour debate. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, hoped his performance Tuesday would help him continue a momentum trend that he said started with strong performances at debates last month in California and South Carolina. Huckabee scored points with his answers, said Chuck Todd, an analyst for NBC, but has failed to develop credibility on two key issues. "He was the best performer on stage, and emphasis on 'performer.'" Todd said. "The problem he's got is, on the crucial issues of the day, he is not a debate participant, national security and immigration. He has good sound bites about, but you don't sense he's got a competency in the issues." Much of the debate's focus was on the Iraq war, a topic that Republicans generally agree on, Huckabee said. The GOP candidates agree that the Bush administration erred in its pre-war planning, but think a troop withdrawal deadline is another mistake, he has said. Huckabee said he supported the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military. On immigration, he said border security should be a priority and people entering the United States should be subject to the same type of scrutiny as airline passengers. But as candidates jostled over the immigration reform proposal now in Congress and discussed the war, Huckabee, a Baptist minister, said he was left to field all the "moral" questions. His opponents thought he did that well. Huckabee got the opportunity to elaborate on a question asked on May 3 in California when he was one of three candidates to say he did not believe in evolution. He passionately detailed his view Tuesday, but said it really shouldn't be a question for a presidential candidate. "Let me be very clear: I believe there is a God. I believe there's a God who was active in the creation process. Now, how did he do it and when did he do it and how long did he take, I don't honestly know. And I don't think knowing that would make me a better or a worse president." Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., complimented Huckabee for the answer. "I can't say it more eloquently than Pastor Huckabee, Gov. Huckabee, just did," McCain said. "And I admire his description because I hold that view." McCain, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani are the top three announced GOP hopefuls in polling and fundraising. When Huckabee said he thought "our sanctity and our understanding of the value of every single human life" was the most important moral issue facing America, Giuliani followed up by saying: "I think the governor is correct." Huckabee has been openly critical of Giuliani, who favors abortion rights. He lobbed criticism at all three frontrunners in the post-debate spin room. "We had some Energizer bunnies up there tonight, and they never got stopped," he said. "Others of us, if we started going over, we got cut off. It was frustrating as a candidate." Huckabee got his first question 15 minutes into the debate, then wasn't called on again until 21 minutes later. He had fewer opportunities to speak in the second hour, when voters from New Hampshire - site of the first presidential primaries of 2008 - quizzed candidates in a town-hall style format. Huckabee stumbled on his first question when he said Tuesday was former President Reagan's birthday. It was actually the anniversary of his 2004 death. Reagan was born in February. "My bad," he said later. |
