The 16,000-member New Hampshire affiliate of the National Education Association has chosen to recommend to its members Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary and Mike Huckabee in the Republican primary, according to a source within the state NEA. This is the first time the state affiliate has picked a candidate in the GOP primary, and it follows Huckabee’s showing as the only Republican who spoke to the NEA convention in July.
The state chapter's membership is more than 25% Republican, said the source, and the committee didn't want those members to be ignored. When Huckabee spoke at the convention and participated in an interview with the state affiliate, deciding members felt it would be right to point that out to members. Only education and related positions were considered, and the board appreciated Huckabee's "strong views on public education," especially supporting the arts and music. The board might have felt differently if it had considered the former Arkansas governor's opinions on "social values issues" and "war issues," the source said.
This is an interesting endorsement in my opinion, because Huckabee is also a proponent of home schooling. And home schoolers are providing a lot of ground support for him, especially in Iowa.
Huckabee is piecing together quite an impressive tent that now includes Fair Tax'ers, home schoolers, social and Christian conservatives, Chuck Norris and Ric Flair, and, now, the National Educators Association.
Is this good or bad for Huck?
One could argue that an NEA endorsement would turn some core folk off. Kind of like if Rush endorsed a democrat in their primary.
Posted by: Joel | December 5, 2007 11:15 AM | Permalink to Comment