Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee continues to stand by an ad critical of 2016 rival Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
When asked on “Fox News Sunday” if the ad, produced by a super political action committee aligned with Huckabee, had selective editing, the former Arkansas governor balked.
“No, not at all,” Huckabee said. “And there’s nothing selective, there was nothing deceptive. The point is that in Iowa he’s made a major point, and he’s pitched to evangelicals as a person who is utterly authentic. He’s going to fight for religious liberty. He’s going to protect the right of people to disagree with decisions on same-sex marriage. But that’s not what you heard in that Manhattan fundraiser and that’s the only thing that I have pointed out.”
The ad was produced in Iowa by a super PAC called Pursuing America’s Greatness. It includes an audio of Cruz and an unidentified person at a New York fundraiser. The man asks Cruz whether he views his opposition to same-sex marriage as a “top-three priority,” to which Cruz simply replies, “No.”
However, in the original audio from the New York fundraiser, obtained by Politico this week, Cruz has a longer answer: “No, I would say defending the Constitution is a top priority. And that cuts across the whole spectrum, whether it’s defending the First Amendment, defending religious liberty, stopping courts from making public policy issues that are left to the people. And I also think the 10th Amendment to the Constitution cuts across a lot of issues.”
Huckabee still defended the ad Sunday, though he did note that it is illegal for campaigns to coordinate for super-PACs, and thus his direct involvement with this ad is nonexistent.
“Obviously, I had nothing to do with the ad,” he said. “So there is no coordination or communication there. But it’s just a matter of listening to the transcript and recognizing that it’s not a big issue when he’s in Manhattan but it is a much bigger issue in Iowa.”
Huckabee’s strikes against Cruz come as the Texas senator has moved to the front of the pack in Iowa. Cruz leads the field in the first-in-the-nation primary state with 30.3 percentage points, while Huckabee sits in eighth place with 2.3 percentage points, per a RealClearPolitics average of polls. Cruz leads the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings, as well.
Also per another RealClearPolitics average of polls, Cruz is in second place overall with 17.8 percentage points, while Huckabee is in tenth with 1.8 percentage points.
