As reported by The Hill (and oddly ignored by other media), Mike Huckabee has modified his position on the advisability of a federal law outlawing smoking in public places. Back in August, during a forum on cancer, the former Arkansas governor said he would be willing to sign a bill to that effect. Queried further about the matter by The Hill, the Huckabee campaign responded this week in a statement downplaying the idea that Congress would pass a bill banning smoking (“sentiment for federal legislation doesn’t exist at this time”) and embracing a federalism solution (“the governor believes that this issue is best addressed at the local and state levels”). What the campaign’s statement passed over was the reason Huckabee advanced during the cancer forum as to why he would sign such a bill: “[W]e shouldn’t allow people to pour the toxic, noxious fumes of a cigarette into a place where people have to work.” Presumably, Huckabee still believes that. I’m told that Huckabee aides have long thought that their candidate’s answer to the question asked at that August cancer forum might create problems for him at some point in the campaign, and that it needed the federalism corrective that is now in the public record. Over the months Huckabee has drawn criticism from conservatives and libertarians for his “nationalist” position. And among the GOP presidential candidates, Fred Thompson has challenged the Arkansan most sharply, noting that Huckabee “said he would sign a bill that would ban smoking nationwide. So much for federalism. So much for states’ rights. So much for individual rights.” Thompson said that during the candidates’ debate a week ago today in Myrtle Beach, a coastal city in a state that for centuries has farmed tobacco, a state that also, of course, holds its primary on Saturday. Is Thompson, who must win South Carolina to stay in the race, gaining on Huckabee? Apparently not, to judge by the very latest poll, which shows McCain and Huckabee in a tie.
