An even-handed look at the Republican front-runner

I've had a few posts indicating some favoritism towards the Republican Party's sudden, newfound leader in both Iowa and national polls, Mike Huckabee.

Now, here's for a look at the biggest issue I have with him that has stuck in my craw (when in Arkansas...) for a while now.

As governor of Arkansas, he raised taxes. Not just once, but multiple times. I don't know if he supports this at the federal level or if he did it to meet budget shortfalls, but in my opinion, the best way to solve any budget shortfall is to cut excess spending somewhere.

In fact, Huckabee has gone so far as to draw the ire of the influential Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax group. Their spokeswoman, Nachama Soloveichik, said,

"If you look at Huckabee's record, on economic issues, he's is the worst Republican in this race."

Ouch. That's harsh.

And therein lies my problem. The only other viable candidates that I trust to hold the line on taxes AND support the right to life are Ron Paul and probably Mitt Romney. Paul likely doesn't have a chance and won't be able to bring any compromise to the bipartisan Washington cronies, and Romney is...well, he's Romney. There are a lot of problems with him, not the least of which is his inconsistency on the issues (including the issue of abortion).

So, that leaves me with Huckabee as the most viable pro-life candidate.

Ouch. It's going to be a long year...