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The Dallas Morning News reports that evangelicals in Texas are aiming to help Mike Huckabee in the upcoming primary there via a new PAC, Texans for Conservative Principles.Federal Election Commission filings show the PAC's treasurer is Keet Lewis, a Dallas businessman who told the Wall Street Journal last week that he donated $1 million to Trust Huckabee, the group that did robo-calls on Huckabee's behalf in several states:
Trust Huckabee was behind one of the most controversial campaign gambits so far this election cycle: automated phone calls that rival campaigns call thinly disguised efforts to slander foes.Using voice-recognition software, the calls ask voters to indicate their favorite candidates. If they support Mr. Huckabee, they are reminded to vote and asked to volunteer. If they choose other candidates, they hear a negative message. "Does knowing that Sen. John McCain has refused to support a federal marriage amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman make it less likely for you to support him?" asks one call.Sen. McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney called the tactic unscrupulous. Mr. Huckabee, prohibited by campaign laws from talking to the group or any independent campaign organizations directly, issued a public appeal for them to stop their activities on his behalf.The group declined. It's their First Amendment right to campaign, says Mr. Davis [Trust Huckabee's campaign manager]. He defends the group's phone messages as just "like a television ad on a telephone call." The calls "provide information about your opponent and give positive information about your candidate."Watch what they do in Texas, where there's an ugly history of nasty primary campaigning against Republicans who don't measure up on the hard-right litmus tests.--Sarah Posner
