Fred: 'Huckabee supported Democrats'
Posted: Saturday, January 12, 2008 2:18 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (see
update)--
Thompson and
Huckabee sparred earlier this week
after Thompson called the Arkansas governor a dirty word: "liberal."
Today, speaking to reporters after a campaign event at a breakfast
restaurant in North Charleston, Thompson served up another helping.
Asked
to respond to Huckabee's charge that Thompson voted for Republican
candidates other than conservative icon Ronald Reagan in 1976 and 1980,
Thompson scoffed, "That's kind of silly." He explained his support of
longtime Tennessee mentor Howard Baker before adding, "If you check the
record, Governor Huckabee supported Democrats on a fairly consistent
basis during his days in Arkansas politics.
"I don't think he wants to get into that discussion."
Thompson,
who has thrown almost all of his campaign's resources into South
Carolina in the hopes that a win in the first southern primary could
buoy his campaign, says that there's "plenty of time" before next
week's contest to convince voters that he's the best conservative
candidate.
"We're going to have to make some fundamental
decisions as which direction we want to go as a party," he
said. "Whether or not we still believe in the Reagan coalition or
whether or not we think we ought to go towards a more populist -- and I
consider more liberal -- kind of approach."
*UPDATE*From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy and Carrie DannAccording to news outlets in the governor's home state, Huckabee supported Democrat Barbara Horn during a 2000 primary race for a state senate seat in southwest Arkansas. Horn subsequently beat her Democratic opponent, and the Republican she would have opposed bowed out of the race.
An editorial in the Arkansas News Bulletin also alleged this week that Huckabee aided state Democrats; the claim got traction on conservative blog
hotair.com, with one user writing that Huckabee actively campaigned against Rep. Shawn Womack. But Womack told the
Baxter Bulletin - a local newspaper in north central Arkansas - that he does not believe Huckabee ever opposed him publicly or privately in the race.
