Me: "Well, put it this way: Let's say you're a conscientious Christian conservative --"
Huckabee: "Yeah."
Me: "You believe that abortion takes the life of an innocent child --"
Huckabee: "Which I do."
Me: "And you believe that marriage should only be between a man and a woman --"
Huckabee: "I do."
Me: "And that the state should not legally recognize alternative unions --"
Huckabee: "I do not favor alternative unions."
Me: "And there is a third-party candidate who is pro-life and pro-marriage running against a Republican like Rudy Giuliani. Which candidate should a good Christian conservative vote for?"
Huckabee: "If Christians don't vote conscience and conviction, and they only vote parties -- if they are purely partisan -- then they really disenfranchise themselves from the very basis upon which they said they were involved in politics. They become just another Republican special-interest group. They are no longer a part of a principled minority, or, as it were, a majority or constituency."
Another reporter: "In that situation, how would you vote, governor?"
Huckabee: "I'll be very clear: I am Christian first; I am a Republican second. And so, my convictions are what led me to the Republican Party. And I am not saying that I would never vote for a person who is different from me, because obviously I have to vote for a lot of people who are different than me and have different views. But my value system is the one thing I have to hold on to. A hundred years from now, which party is in power is not going to make a whole lot of difference, but whether I was true to my moral compass means everything."
Me: "Well, governor, it sounds to me like what you just said is that if you have a Rudy Giuliani running as the Republican and there is a third-party candidate who is pro-family and pro-marriage, that the conscientious Christian conservative ought to vote for the pro-life, pro-marriage candidate over Rudy Giuliani?"
Huckabee: "Well, I've got a better idea, Terry. What they ought to do is nominate me, and then we don't have that challenge."
Me: "Right."
Huckabee: "So, let me not answer the hypothetical 'what if,' because I don't think we're going there. I really don't."
Republicans who want their party to remain the political vehicle of choice for conscientious pro-life, pro-marriage conservatives better hope this man from Arkansas is right about where the GOP is going.