In August 1980, as the conservative Christian movement was first transforming American politics, Ronald Reagan stood before a Dallas stadium full of 15,000 foot-stomping, hand-clapping evangelicals and pledged his fealty to the Bible. \u201cAll the complex and horrendous questions confronting us at home and worldwide have their answer in that single book,\u201d\u009d said Mr. Reagan, the Republican presidential nominee.<\/p>\n
Assisting with logistics for the event was a young seminary dropout named Mike Huckabee. \u201cIt was the genesis for the whole movement,\u201d\u009d Mr. Huckabee recalled of those early days.<\/p>\n
Now Mr. Huckabee is running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, his campaign shaped by his two decades as an evangelical pastor and broadcaster. While he says he is running based on his career in the Arkansas governor\u2019s mansion, not the pulpit, he has grounded his views on issues like abortion and immigration in Scripture, rallied members of the clergy for support, benefited from the anti-Mormon sentiment dogging a political rival and relied on the down-to-earth style he honed in the pulpit to help catapult him in the polls.<\/p>\n