While top-tier Christian Right leadership continues to withhold its blessing from Mike Huckabee, his rousing speech and ecstatic reception at last weekend’s Values Voter Summit is translating into some second-tier endorsements from the movement.
From The New York Times Caucus Blog:

Phil Burress, president of the Ohio-based Citizens for Community Values and member of the executive committee of the Arlington Group, declined to talk about the meeting but said he has personally decided to support Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister. Another well-respected Christian conservative leader, Kelly Shackleford, a Texas lawyer, is also expected to come out on behalf of Mr. Huckabee in the coming days.

Burress and Shackleford may not be household names, but they lead their respective states’–Ohio’s and Texas’s–Family Policy Councils, the closest thing national evangelical powerhouse Focus on the Family has to state affiliates. God-o-Meter wonders whether such support foretells where the Christian Right higher-ups are headed.

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