My post on Huckabee's dissembling about what he "knows" about Mormonism got picked up by Hugh Hewitt on the Townhall blog and then subsequently by others.

Notably, some Huckabee boosters are reluctant to attach too much seriousness to the issue, but I believe they are being short-sighted. Let me explain.

Huckabee has repeated his feigned ignorance about Mormonism, and frankly its like former Klansman Robert Byrd claiming that he doesn't know much about 'negroes'.

Objectively, Huckabee probably doesn't know much about Mormonism in a theological sense, but he undoubtedly knows a great deal about the Southern Baptist Convention's vast body of apologetic work on Mormons. As I pointed out yesterday, the entire 15 million member conference were threatened enough by Mormons to hold an annual conference in Salt Lake City where theme was understanding the Mormon threat.

Dressed in Christian terminology, advocating traditional family values, and upholding conservative personal lifestyles, Mormons claim they are a Christian movement founded on the principles of Jesus Christ. Yet, Christians are confused by Mormons’ use of extra-biblical scriptures such as The Book of Mormon, unorthodox doctrines, and aggressive missionary efforts to convert them to the LDS church. So they ask, "What is the truth about Mormons?"

Its not just Huckabee who, as a SBC ordained minister, "knows" Mormonism--its an institutional "knowledge". One that produces distorted pictures of Mormon beliefs in a fashion indistinguishable from "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion"--the notorious anti-semitic tract that like anti-Mormon literature, survives in circulation for decades and centuries (regardless of how many times its refuted...)

The stuff is already making its way into the hands of Democrat flying monkeys. Oliver Willis posts a rather notorious cartoon produced by the Saints Alive Evangelical ministry lampooning Mormon beliefs.

If Huckabee wins the nomination, you can be sure that the Democrats will hang this body of "hate literature" around his neck and rhetorically ask the question of whether we really want a religious bigot as president. Its not just the Mormons. There is plenty of anti-Catholic stuff to go around as well.

The real issue though is more fundamental--Huckabee, as an institutional representative of the SBBC, will alienate Mormon voters. Democrats will work hard to make sure that happens.

So what does it matter if 5-6 million Mormons sulk at home? Well, its not the number of Mormons, its the concentration.

If you live in the Northeast, you may well have never met a Mormon, but Mormons are densely represented in a series of states that stretch from Montana to Arizona. They dominate states like Utah, Idaho and Wyoming and have very significant populations in Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Montana, California and Oregon.

Mormons can--all by themselves, deliver 10 electorial votes. (Utah, Idaho, Wyoming)

The can strongly affect 24 additional electoral votes in Arizona, Nevada and Colorado--all of which are going to be strongly contested in this election cycle.

If you depress the Mormon vote, you essentially gift-wrap these electoral votes for the Democratic nominee.

Lest we forget--the last election was won by 20 electoral votes.

As an ordained minister, Huckabee has an inherent authenticity with Evangelical voters, but his strength is also a weakness. Bush, as a mere congregant, never had to accept responsibility for anything except his personal faith, but Huckabee, as a former SBC convention president, has a direct responsibility for the policies of the institution. He very much needs his own "Faith in America" speech to assure all those of us who are unsuitably churched in the eyes of the SBC, that he won't establish a state religion.

Its going to be a little tough, since as Governor of Arkansas, he had the poor judgment to address the SBC as keynote speaker.

UPDATE: Rich Lowry bemoans the Republican party's flirting with huckicide.

Code Huckabee:

Even more troubling is the way he deals with questions about Romney's Mormon faith. Huckabee studied theology as a seminarian, yet when asked about Mormonism he becomes a country bumpkin who doesn't know anything beyond the rumors he has heard. He apologizes later -- as he did this week for his false suggestion that Mormons believe Satan is Jesus's brother -- but by then, of course, the damage is done. Huckabee could easily allay fundamentalist voters' qualms about Romney's beliefs, or at least put them in context. He chooses not to.

The Anchoress