December 8, 2007
Posted: 03:00 PM ET
GREENVILLE, South Carolina (CNN) – As Mike Huckabee surges in the polls, his Republican rivals are beginning to take aim at his record as governor of Arkansas. But in conservative Iowa and South Carolina, it appears Huckabee should probably start bracing for anonymous attacks as well. Mysterious fliers attempting to paint Huckabee as too liberal for Republican primary voters were left on car windshields outside of a campaign event in Greenville on Saturday. Under the banner, "Mike Huckabee – a 'True' Conservative?," the flier blasts Huckabee on immigration and taxes, and accuses the former Arkansas governor of "lying" about his role in the Wayne Dumond parole controversy. [Read the flier here.] It quotes a 2005 Arkansas News article that paraphrased Huckabee as saying, "Arkansas needs to make the transition from a traditional Southern state to one that recognizes and cherishes diversity and culture." "Is something wrong with our Southern Christian culture?," the flier asks.
Although the flier says it is sponsored by a group called "Lynchburg Christian Students for the Truth," a web search of that name did not return any results. The flier also included an email address offering to provide "court records on the Dumond trial," but emails sent to that address were not returned. ABC News obtained a similar flier in Iowa this week when it was slipped under a hotel room door in Des Moines, although that one came from a group calling itself "Iowans for Some Semblance of Christian Decency." The South Carolina flier bears a strong resemblance to the one found in Iowa. Both include many of the same reference and quotations, including one from conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly saying that Huckabee "destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas." Both fliers are simple 8×10 printouts with bullet points attacking Huckabee's record, with particular focus on the Dumond case. "Don't fooled by his smooth rhetoric!," the Iowa flier proclaims. Similarly, the South Carolina flier reads: "Don't be fooled by that smooth voice!" The flier urges "those who want to learn more" to contact Betsy Hagan of the Arkansas Eagle Forum and includes her phone number. Hagan opposes Huckabee's presidential bid. "I don’t have any idea who is doing that," Hagan said, reached by phone. "I've gotten a lot of calls from people in Iowa about that. I'm not identified with the group. I wish they would quit using my number." UPDATE: The campaign of Sen. John McCain, who himself suffered from a barrage of anonymous attacks before to the South Carolina primary in 2000, issued a statement condemning the fliers and calling on other campaigns to do the same. From McCain's state co-chair, South Carolina Adjutant General Stan Spears: "Unfortunately, the McCain campaign is all too familiar with these types of underhanded tactics. They undermine the integrity of the political process and cause people to distrust public servants. "Our campaign is committed to employing only the highest ethical standards. We encourage all other campaigns to do the same and to join us in condemning this type of action." – CNN South Carolina Producer Peter Hamby Filed under: Iowa Mike Huckabee South Carolina
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