Mike Huckabee was quick to put his distant third place in Michigan behind him and look forward to Saturday’s race in South Carolina.

He told his supporters: “It looks like I won Iowa, John McCain won New Hampshire, Mitt Romney won Michigan. Ladies and Gentlemen, we are going to win South Carolina.”

Huckabee got off to a good start in the Mid-West state of Iowa before Michigan and New Hampshire, two northern states, slowed his progress.

Huckabee has every reason to feel confident about heading south. After all, a southern Baptist preacher has every chance of doing well in a southern, Christian, conservative state.

As many as half of those expected to vote in South Carolina are so-called “values voters”.

Huckabee’s calls for constitutional amendments to ban abortion and gay marriage may well strike a chord.

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