Answer on 1992 questionnaire could stem the velocity of his astonishing surge in Iowa. Huckabee called homosexuality 'sinful'

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, surging in Iowa polls in the Republican presidential race, wrote on a questionnaire while running for U.S. Senate in 1992 that homosexuality is "aberrant" and "sinful."

"I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk," Huckabee wrote in the questionnaire for The Associated Press, which reported the answer on Saturday.


In another answer that could damage his standing in the presidential race, Huckabee wrote on the questionnaire that AIDS research was receiving an unfair amount of federal money. Instead, he said celebrities should pay for the research.

"In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified," Huckabee wrote, according to the AP.

"An alternative would be to request that multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding be encouraged to give out of their own personal treasuries increased amounts for AIDS research."

The revelations could dampen the enthusiasm for the candidacy of Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, because the language clashes with his image as a compassionate, sunny leader.

It also could cause Republican voters to reevaluate whether he would be effective at winning swing voters in a general election that looks trying for the GOP.

Huckabee also wrote that he wanted to quarantine AIDS patients, according to the AP:

"If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.... It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents."

Huckabee's written public statements came during his initial run for public office, which he lost to incumbent Democratic Sen. Dale Bumpers.

Huckabee is not renouncing the comments, but is seeking to explain them by pointing to the context of the times.

The former governor told reporters Saturday in Asheville, N.C., that there were “a lot of questions” about AIDS when he filled out the AP survey in 1992, according to Joy Lin of CBS News. Huckabee brought up a case in 1991 of a patient who had contracted AIDS from her dentist and said the nation was in “real panic."

“What I mentioned was that the only time in human history that we had not quarantined people who were carriers of a disease for which we didn’t know where it was going was this time,” said Huckabee.

“If I were making those same comments today, I might make them a little differently,” he added. “But obviously I have to stand by what I said.... Medical protocol typically says that if you have a disease for which there is no cure and you are uncertain about the transmission of it, the first thing you do is quarantine or isolate the carriers.”

Still, the report is a second distraction at a time when Huckabee has tied or passed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in polls in Iowa. A Newsweek poll of likely Iowa caucus-goers taken Wednesday and Thursday found Huckabee leading Romney by a 2-1 margin, 39 percent to 17 percent. Newsweek’s last poll, in late September, had Huckabee at 6 percent and Romney at 25 percent.

Even before the revelation about his incendiary 1992 views on AIDS policy, Huckabee was facing questions about whether he will be a durable candidate and is prepared for commander-in-chief responsibilities.

The scrutiny has been harsh, leading some Republicans to wonder if Huckabee peaked too soon.

This week in Iowa, he left reporters agape when he said he had not heard about an intelligence report on Iran that had been dominating newscasts and front pages for two days. He later blamed his staff.

Perhaps more damagingly, he has not warded off questions about his role in the 1999 parole of a rapist, supported by Arkansas pastors, who went on to kill a mother of three.

Huckabee said on NBC’s “Today” show on Thursday that he “didn’t put pressure” on the parole board. The former governor acknowledged to CBS’s “The Early Show” that he considered – but denied – a commutation, although the convict was eventually freed, anyway.

“It wasn't so much his innocence, but it was the sentence and the fact that while he was awaiting trial, someone broke into his home,” Huckabee said. “It was a horrible case from start to finish for everybody – for the victims, for him.”

Nevertheless, heavy television attention to the case – with its shades of the Willie Horton case that was so damaging to Michael Dukakis in his 1988 presidential race – has undercut Huckabee’s law-and-order credentials and raised questions about his candor and judgment.

In a quick check of Republican reaction after the AP story broke, some conservatives said they viewed Huckabee’s answers as a blunt statement of views held by many in his Southern Baptist flock, and an antidote to the waffling that pervades politics.

So it may turn out that his more damaging answer was not the one about his view of homosexuality but rather his foray into federal policy – quarantining AIDS patients and cutting funding for research.