Huckabee’s White House hopes hurt by commutation

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s hopes for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination have been dealt a major blow by his 9-year-old decision to commute the sentence of Maurice Clemmons - the man suspected of killing four police officers near Seattle early Sunday.

“It will be extremely damaging,” said Diana Banister, a Washington-based publicist for Republican causes and candidates. “His GOP primary rivals will use it to their advantage against him.”

Mr. Huckabee, who has led in some early polls for the Republican nomination, faced similar questions during the 2008 Iowa Republican caucuses over the case of Wayne DuMond, another Arkansas convict to whom he offered clemency in 1997 and who subsequently was convicted of murdering a woman in Missouri.

“It will be the Republican version of the Willie Horton issue that GOP surrogates used against Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, the unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidate in 1988,” Ms. Banister said.

Mr. Dukakis’ decision to furlough Horton, who committed rape and battery while free from prison, was prominently played up in ads by Vice President George H.W. Bush on his way to a decisive victory in the 1988 campaign.

“I’ve always thought Huckabee is probably not a conservative,” said New York-based Republican campaign consultant Jim McLaughlin. “Whether it’s immigration, taxes or now this - he’s shown really poor judgment.”

Many conservative Web sites also have taken Mr. Huckabee to task in the wake of the Washington state slayings.

“This is going to be extremely problematic for Gov. Huckabee,” wrote RedState.com contributor Erick Erickson.

“Of course, a lot of folks said [DuMond] was ‘Mike Huckabee’s Willie Horton.’ How many Willie Hortons can one man have?” he asked.

Mr. Huckabee, in a statement issued Sunday, expressed sympathy for the victims and their families but deflected blame from his 2000 decision that expedited the release of Clemmons, who remained at large Monday despite a massive manhunt.

“Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State,” the statement said.

In a “Fox News Sunday” TV interview, the former Arkansas governor - who hosts his own show on Fox News Channel - sounded undecided whether to repeat his 2008 bid for the Republican nomination. He said he was “less likely” to run in 2012 because he was enjoying hosting his television show.

In 2008, Mr. Huckabee was the target of criticism from certain evangelical leaders, neoconservatives and traditional conservatives for what became known as his “Wayne DuMond problem,” as well as his suspect positions on such issues as Islamic terrorism, illegal immigration and taxes.

His forgiving nature and seemingly natural beneficence have come back to haunt him politically on more than one occasion.

Democrats have been content to let the press and Mr. Huckabee’s conservative allies excoriate him.

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