'This could be a Mt. Carmel moment,' he said. Huckabee rallies for Akin

TAMPA, Fla. — Mike Huckabee rallied hundreds of Southern Baptists on a conference call Friday night in support of Todd Akin, offering advice about how they can help the embattled Missouri Senate candidate stay in the race — while acknowledging Akin still may have to bow out.

“This could be a Mount Carmel moment,” said the former Arkansas governor, referring to the holy battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal in the book of Kings. “You know, you bring your gods. We’ll bring ours. We’ll see whose God answers the prayers and brings fire from heaven. That’s kind of where I’m praying: that there will be fire from heaven, and we’ll see it clearly, and everyone else will to.”


“Obviously, Todd’s numbers have dramatically gone down,” Huckabee added during an hour-long call, which started immediately after a defiant Akin reiterated during a news conference that he’s in the race to stay. “Two things: The poll numbers need to come back up. Todd needs to show that he can still raise money. That’s a game-changer. If not, then the pressure will continue. It maybe won’t be public, but the pressure will still be there for Todd to exit the race and clear the field for somebody else.”

Huckabee said he received calls from the highest levels of the Republican Party after he came out in support of Akin, who came under fire Sunday after his “legitimate rape” remarks. But Huckabee suggested the GOP establishment has begun to realize that Akin may wind up being their only hope.

“Today, the rhetoric was dramatically dialed back,” he said. “You did not see the NRSC, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, coming out with the kind of harsh statements because they’ve dialed it back. They’ve assured me that they will no longer be threatening the business of some of the vendors in politics and telling them that if they do anything to help Todd, they’d be blackballed and not get any business.

“That kind of stuff’s been going on, and I told these people yesterday that I talked to: That’s got to stop. It can’t continue. That’s what union goons do: breaking people’s kneecaps when you cross a line. And Todd Akin has done nothing but make a mistake for which he has roundly repudiated the comment and apologized. There’s nothing else he can do.”

The NRSC pushed back firmly on Huckabee’s accusation.

“We have a great deal of respect for Gov. Huckabee and regret that we do not see eye to eye with him on this race,” said NRSC Communications Director Brian Walsh. “It’s important to set the record straight, though, that the types of tactics he describes simply did not happen — and further, no one at the NRSC has even spoken with the governor this week.”

Huckabee released a statement Saturday walking back the comments he made on the call.

“I have not had any direct contact with leaders or staff from the NRSC,” he said in the emailed statement. “This is an attempt to create a story. My comments this week on my own forums of radio and to the people who choose to receive communications from me are first hand and accurately reflect what I said. I hardly need third-party news outlets who ‘heard’ things to report on that which simply didn’t happen. Harry Reid has imaginary friends who tell him things about others, and it appears that there are some others in the media who have some imaginary friends.”

His spokesman declined to answer follow-up questions about who Huckabee was talking about in the direct quote or whether he had indirect contact with party leaders, saying he’d discuss the matter on Fox News on Saturday night.

The executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, John Yeats, told the group that he counseled Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) after he was linked to a prostitution ring in 2007.

“David had been exposed for going places he shouldn’t have been going. And there were calls for him to step out, but he stayed by his campaign and restored his relationship with his wife,” Yeats said. “As I think about Congressman Akin, his quote, ‘transgression,’ was not nearly as vile as Vitter’s. So I think this thing is survivable. And beyond survivable, I still think he has a real shot at winning the race here in Missouri.”

“One of the things we have to remind ourselves of and remind our people of is that Congressman Akin represents the mainstream of our values,” he added. “He is the mainstream of our values.”

David Baker, pastor of First Baptist of Church in Belton, Mo., chimed in to say that he met with 60 men earlier in the evening and the view was unanimous Akin should keep fighting.

“We have a responsibility as prophets to speak out,” he said. “One thing I know about Missouri Baptists is that we don’t like to be told what to do.”

Huckabee’s decision to join the call reflects how personal the fight has become for him. He proudly considers himself separate from the GOP establishment, and his intensifying involvement in the imbroglio shows he’s willing to spend political capital on a candidate and fellow social conservative who many others in his party consider a lost cause.

The 2008 presidential candidate had choice words for those calling on Akin to get out.

“I’ve never seen an effort like what I’ve seen this week with party leaders coming together expressly for the purpose of taking one of their own wounded soldiers on the battlefield — and instead of coming to get him off the field and to the hospital — basically opening up rounds and rounds of fire on him, and then running over him with the tanks of the trucks, leaving him to be ravaged by the wolves of the other side.”

“For me, it’s not been a pleasant week either because there are some people — even good decent people who were so outraged by the original comment that they don’t want to hear anything about redemption,” Huckabee added, pointing to vitriolic comments posted on his blog.

Huckabee joined the call 35 minutes late from New York. He said he was at Fox News’ headquarters for a meeting about Hurricane Isaac and next week’s Republican convention.

Before Huckabee called in, former Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts announced that he’s been trying to reach Akin on the phone to offer words of encouragement.

“I would remind our pastor friends … over the last 10, 12 years the homosexual lobby is more powerful than they’ve ever been in Washington. Planned Parenthood is more powerful than they’ve ever been. Our children’s innocence is more threatened,” said Watts, who was the House Republican Conference chairman in the late 1990s. “Todd Akin has been just totally with the family, totally stood for godly principles. He and his wife are just a delight to be around. … Todd Akin has not been the problem. He has been the solution.”

“Republicans were in charge the last 10 years for probably 65 [percent] or 70 percent of the time and all the people that’s coming out calling for Todd Akin to step aside, they are the very people that make a living off what I call the conservative industry,” he added.

David Barton, the founder of a Texas-based conservative group WallBuilders, was asked to offer some historical perspective for the group.

“There’s been a lot of political leaders who have made major gaffes but not just misspoken,” said Barton. “One of the greatest leaders in Israel’s history was David, who had [committed] adultery, murdered Uriah, etc. But he repented. God gave him forgiveness. Great leader. But that was not a misspeaking of words. And then Noah had trouble with drunkenness. God still used him. Samuel couldn’t control his children. He ran a nation. Moses, guilty of murder. He came back, delivers a nation.”

“There’s a long list of people who were absolutely flawed, but nothing for as small a misdemeanor – if you will — as misspeaking,” he added. “So this is really unprecedented.”

Barton, who was once the co-chairman of the Texas Republican Party, decried “party bosses” for calling pastors, supporting Akin to pressure them to stop doing so.

“This is a guy that we can’t let a lot of loud-mouth people take from the rest of the nation,” he said, “because he’s too much of a fighter that we need on these kinds of issues in D.C.”