Huckabee backers push ad slamming Romney

SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. — An open letter to Sen. John McCain warning him against picking Mitt Romney as the Republican vice-presidential candidate is being pushed by supporters of Mike Huckabee, although the former Arkansas governor denies any personal connection.

The ad, signed by more than 20 social conservatives, warns that if Governor Romney is on your ticket, many social conservative voters will consider their values repudiated by the Republican Party and either stay away from the polls this November or only vote down the ticket.

At a four-day meeting here of national Republican Party officials, including state party chairmen, there was shock over the latest threat to party unity.

These are Huckabee supporters behind this anti-Romney message. It’s organized, Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis said.

The most prominent signer is Free Congress Foundation President Paul M. Weyrich, who backed Mr. Romney in the primaries. But several among the less well-known signers supported Mr. Huckabee during the Republican presidential primaries, such as Gary Glenn, American Family Association of Michigan president, and Janet Folger, president of Faith2Action.

Huckabee supporters have been sending around an e-mail notice alerting recipients to the anti-Romney message dominated by the block headline No Mitt. The e-mail says the message will run as a full-page print ad in cities that Mr. McCain visits, beginning with an Arizona stop this weekend.

But the ex-candidate himself told The Washington Times that he is behind neither the newspaper ads nor the online petition site nomittvp.com, both funded by the previously obscure political action committee Government is Not God (GINGPAC).

I had nothing to do with the content or placement of the ad, Mr. Huckabee told The Times. I know somebody had e-mailed it to me beforehand.

Mr. Huckabee said of the anti-Romney ad that he has no position on it one way or the other, though he added that I doubt Senator McCain would pick Governor Romney, given their deep philosophical differences.

With Mr. Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, having dropped out of the contest after Mr. McCain swept four Republican Party nomination contests on March 4, the ex-governor’s supporters have been campaigning for him to be the vice-presidential choice of Mr. McCain. But doubt is growing among politically savvy Christian conservatives that Mr. Huckabee will be the one who fills out the ticket.

An evangelical political activist close to top leaders on the religious right said in a phone interview that Huckabee people would like for McCain to pick Huckabee. But Huckabee has had no interaction with McCain since the campaign.