Yes, Mike Huckabee is going to do very well among Evangelicals but don't think he's going to run away with that vote. The latest poll shows Huckabee leading McCain 33% to 20% among the Evangelical vote. That's a sizeable margin but not as big as it could be. Why?
I talked to Bob McAllister, a key advisor to John McCain when it comes to Evangelical outreach. Here's what he tells me:
"The media try to put Evangelicals in a little box like we are a subset of society or something when the fact is that evangelicals and evangelical values are essentially the core of the Republican Party and John McCain is the same to Evangelicals as he is to anybody else."
"He'll do very well among Evangelicals. I'm convinced he will get his share and then some. The military is a major constituency in South Carolina. The veterans are a major constituency in South Carolina. South Carolina has a patriotic history of serving the country. South Carolinians are patriots. We honor patriots and John McCain far and way has the record. We are very concerned about whether this country is going to be in existence in the future because of Bin Laden and that ilk saying they're going to destroy us. That's a major issue here. Don't miss that."
"Even those who don't support him say this that John McCain is an atypical politician in that he's going to do what's right in that he's going to tell Americans not what the polls say he should say but what they need to hear."
"His biggest challenge has been getting the truth out about who he is. I feel very good that he has done, that he is going to win the South Carolina primary."
Basically, McAllister says that fighting the war on terror resonates with Evangelicals down here and McCain's strength of character and integrity helps him. In a way, McCain is able to neutralize Huckabee to some extent on the authenticity issue. In a close race that could make a key difference.