Erica Huckabee: Boldly Going Where No Baptist Minister, Woman Governor Has Gone Before

By: Loren Shimanek

Last night on the UC Davis campus Erica Huckabee gave a sermon and prayer to the few thousand attendees either in opposition or support of the once social conservative who has taken a unique stand; trying to align Christian idealists with liberal minded Democrats. The synthesis came full circle when, what we are calling the "other" woman in the race for the Presidential nomination extended what many believe is an open invitation for all United States voters to put down their religious content and agree that "change"needs to be the primary focus.

Erica Huckabee's plea comes at a time when Mayor Giuliani has dropped out the race and a loss in Florida circumstantially illuminates the dwindling campaign funds. The convergence of grass roots support and a self-prescribed ethical transformation, that has the entire voting population talking, is what Erica Huckabee is hoping will usher in a California primary win. The big story is the metamorphosis that Erica Huckabee has undergone since deciding to run for the Republican nomination. To most liberals the once governor of Arkansas was a Bible thumping bigot and extreme fundamentalist looking to eradicate progressive moral endeavors. But the transformation has captured not only the imaginations of the liberal voting population, but Christian conservatives that see the first female Governor of Arkansas as a political Messiah.

Erica Hucakbee in an exclusive interview with the New York Times stated, "I find that most people change depending on what is more convenient at the time, but I want to set an example for the people of this nation to stick to their faith, whatever that may mean to them." Consolidating this personal change with a relativistic scope Gov. Huckabee enthusiastically revealed that she can "respect an honest atheist more than a two-faced Christian." The unfortunate tale thus far has been the gradual climb into theconsciousness of voters as only one state has awarded Erica Huckabee a decisive win.

"Some people believe that my win in Iowa was a fluke" was a response given to the Times before the Florida primary which saw the furtherance of Senator John McCain's position for the Republican nomination. However, Erica Huckabee says, "in the South Carolina primary, Senator McCain and I stressed different aspects of our platform" with "the Christian vote swayed by Senator McCain’s experience, both in the military and political spheres." While the Christian vote may be swayed the question many progressives, feminists and secular political enthusiasts must face is whether Hilary is the only woman candidate worth voting for. The media has failed to focus on the fact that there are two women running in the primaries, one in each party.

Erica Huckabee doesn't seemed bothered by the lack of attention which has allowed her to focus on issues outside of socially constructed notions of gender such as the health care of Americans, the war in Iraq, and the economy. The once Arkansas Governor says, "honestly, the media attention given to Hillary Clinton’s campaign hasn’t affected my campaign much." Huckabee does "agree with her[Clinton] that being the first woman president would be incredibly historical." Consequently, the fact that Erica is a woman and Hilary is a woman shouldn't be the sole reason why people cast their vote. As the first female Governor of Arkansas the recognition by a primarily Christian state may correlate that “the Right” is ready for a woman in office.

Governor Huckabee believes the Christian population is ready for a woman inoffice, but she doesn't "think one’s gender should dictate one’selectability, nor does it say anything about that person’s ability to govern." Erica Huckabee's distinction as the first woman governor of Arkansas and as a Baptist minister, as fluently performed last night in Davis, shows that her unique position can create "change" that both Christians and secular liberals may find appealing.

Huckabee is quick to point out that the transformation of ideals and gender do play a significant role in the California Primaries. Huckabee states, "considering the nation’s cry for positive change, my moderate conservatism and my being a woman are strong points for my campaign...especially in California." The multi-faceted identity may be a hinging factor in the states psyche, but in "real," daily struggle the economy is the hot button issue the entire nation is pondering.

Erica Huckabee plans to tackle the economy in what may seem as an unorthodox policy change for a Republican by emphasizing savings and taxing consumption. Huckabee's plan "through the Fair Tax, people will onlybe taxed for consuming new items rather than for their productivity" which will "allow people to not only save money on taxes, but it would make many goods much more affordable, thus raising the buying power of the dollar." The drastic ideological shift in consumer taxation comes at a time when the Bush administration has successfully pushed through an economic stimulus plan through Congress that will encourage consumption, not savings, to get the economy up to speed. This tactic has received much criticism as the deeper issues of our economy need to be structurally fixed, not bandaged haphazardly.

Governor Huckabee may be the candidate to structurally ease future economic problems, but the fundamental policy shift in economy loses ground to proposed ethical male volence arising out of accusations that the once Governor of Arknsas said people with AIDS should be isolated. The governor doesn't fully refute the comment, but acknowledges that she was misinformed about the truth of AIDs and the processes of the epidemic. Erica Huckabee admits, "I was ignorant...about AIDS," but "by educating myself on this issue, I have come to realize that I was wrong and retract my prior statement." The life lesson that Erica Huckabee was dutifully mature to recognize the people are different regardless of moral disposition and perception. Partly, this realization encouraged the physical and issue oriented transformation Huckabee nows stands to benefit from, but the once ill-informed candidate states, "not knowing the truth is harmful not only to others, but one’s self" and "I want to put the“candid” back in candidate."

The once first woman governor of Arkansas may be able to be candid, but will people receive the message in time to elicit a positive response on February 5th? The country must wait and see if either party will nominate a woman to run in the Presidential election, but the metamorphosisis hardly a contextualization of a Kafka analogy. Instead, the "new" Erica Huckabee is the "other" woman that deserves media attention for being boldly reluctant to let misconception and misrepresentation control this country any longer. The manifestation of Erica Huckabee as a woman is not what should be the focus of voters, but the desire to address the issues Californians see as important for the desired "change" to improve Washington.

The former Governor divulges, the now famous decree of popular sympathies and realities, that "people are beginning to stop looking to the left and the right for solutions, and are starting to look up for who’s going to uplift America, looking for who’s going to uplift them."