Surely a blow to the Team Huckabee, and a strong message to Iowa Christian Voters:
Officials with the group typically avoid making public endorsements because of their tax-exempt status, but Mr. Hurd blurted out his decision tonight in what felt like a bit of an accident.
“I’ll tell you a little secret,” he told the audience of more than 200 people. “I haven’t told anybody else this. I’ll tell this secret out here. Next Thursday, when I go to the caucuses, I’m going to cast my vote for Governor Mitt Romney.”
Neither Mr. Hurd, nor Mr. Romney, who took the microphone afterward, identified Mr. Hurd as the chairman of the Alliance’s board.
“I don’t think I’m supposed to endorse a candidate,” said Mr. Hurd afterward, when the Caucus approached him. “I hope I don’t get in trouble.”
Mr. Hurd downplayed the weight of his endorsement, but Tim Albrecht, Mr. Romney’s Iowa campaign spokeman, called it a “huge validator.” Link
While a public endorsement of Romney by Hurd was a surprise, I am positive that Mr. Hurd’s support of Romney was not to insiders. Calling Jeff Fuller! Any details you want to chime in with are appreciated. 
December 29th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
WOW! Huge!
With Grassley going out and saying Romney got the strongest organization going this is huge!
December 29th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Speaking of Romney, he is running a live webcast at 9 PM EST (8 PM CST) tomorrow.
check it out on his site.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
I guess if the print media wants nothing to do with Mitt Romney, you tout votes from Christian leaders that no one has ever heard of. Someone’s gotta make lemons into lemonade.
Seriously, this Rev. Morris Hurd gets 271 hits on google. Putting things into perspective, our very own Kavon Nikrad gets over 1000 google hits.
Here’s a tip for Mitt Romney: Forget wheeling out leaders to tell voters what to do. Connect with VOTERS themselves.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
This is a good endorsement for Mitt. Even if it only convinces a handful of caucus goers to switch to Romney, it could be huge positive due to the nature of the caucus system. Of all the candidates right now, Mitt appears to have the most momentum heading into next week. Of course momentum changes on a daily basis.
Some have speculated on what this might do to the tax exempt status for the Iowa Christian Voters, I can’t imagine it will have any negative affect. He is simply speaking for himself and whom he is voting for. He is not speaking on behalf of the ICV. If he had said, ‘we in the ICV endorse Mitt Romney and you should vote for him too” then they would have issues, but this is innocent.
By the way, how nerdy do I feel feeding my political blog addiction at 11:30 on a Saturday night? sigh.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
e Dogg,
The IOwa Christian Alliance is pretty big in IOWA.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
lol swint.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
#4 – you are not nerdy compared to me. i booked a flight and am currently in des moines to soak up all this stuff we have been reading about for the last year or so.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I’m going up to NH till the primary to help out with the Romney campaign. If any of you guys are going to be up there for whatever reason we should get together! Leave me a message on Facebook, or just friend me: Ryan Daly.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Ryan, I almost decided to go up to NH also, but I can’t take a week off of work.
Joe C. I would love to be there. I would really like to sit in a caucus event and just observe how it works.
Both of you enjoy your time in your respective places.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Swint – you. are. not. alone.
To find out just how much of a nerd you are, take the nerd test:
http://www.nerdtests.com/ft_nq.php
I am absolutely addicted to politics and especially this site (after Rush Limbaugh’s show).
December 29th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
And to all of my friends here on the site – I wish you the following:
To All My Democrat Friends:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wished.
***************************
To My Republican Friends:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
December 29th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
#10, I only got nerd wannabe.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
Ryan – I got – not quite a nerd, but not hip either. That really hurt!
December 30th, 2007 at 12:03 am
This will only be huge if it gets picked up and people hear about it. A lot of people are looking for some approval to vote for Mitt over Huck, and this tells a lot of them that it is okay. A lot of evangelicals will be saying, “Maybe it is okay to vote differently than my pastor has asked me to.”
December 30th, 2007 at 12:06 am
Somewhat Nerdy.
43% were nerdy than I. that sounds about right.
December 30th, 2007 at 12:10 am
Beth,
I am a low ranking Nerd. 68% scored less then me.
December 30th, 2007 at 12:40 am
Beth,
83% were more nerdy than me. Fun test.
December 30th, 2007 at 12:50 am
[...] this is real, and I am not necessarily advocating the position that it is, you have to wonder what the head of the Iowa Christian Alliance was thinking. That said, nice get by Mitt [...]
December 30th, 2007 at 1:02 am
It is a fun test.
You know, I think Romney is a big nerd, and that’s why people don’t understand him.
He doesn’t look like a nerd. He looks like someone who would be a model in GQ magazine(ok, 60 year old model now).
But he really is kind of nerdy. Read this article by Michael Barone:
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/barone/2007/12/21/mitt-romney-out-of-the-50s.html
Do you remember the movie, “A Blast From The Past” with Brendan Fraser? This kid lived in a bomb shelter for years and then finally came out. He was sort of stuck in the 50s or 60s and all his friends thought he was a real innocent — kind of a nerd.
That’s how I see Mitt Romney.
This guy Mitt Romney — he married his high school sweetheart. I’m sure they waited until they were married (look I know about this – I graduated in 1971 from high school and almost all girls waited), he went on a mission when he got out of high school and served other people!
When the rest of the world was “questioning authority,” protesting the Vietnam War, opposing their parents and all kinds of other authority, and experimenting with drugs and sex, Mitt Romney was married, going to school for a double major in law and business and having children.
He never rebelled, he never got cynical. He never tried drugs, he never got drunk or partied all night or was a womanizer. He was just a really good, wholesome kid who loved his family and set goals for himself.
I am almost positive that that’s why people don’t understand him and think he’s a phoney.
He is just extremely unusual for someone in his generation.
But I can see that he’s the real deal.
America will be really blessed if Mitt Romney is the next president of the United States (and his beautiful wife, Ann, is our first lady).
December 30th, 2007 at 1:05 am
Only 27% more nerdy than me. I just knew to much!!! lol
December 30th, 2007 at 1:09 am
McCain just said on tv he finished 5th from the bottom of his class at the Naval Acadamy.
December 30th, 2007 at 1:10 am
i think class size was 800 and something
December 30th, 2007 at 1:39 am
Beth
I think you said it perfectly as always. Go Mitt!
December 30th, 2007 at 1:53 am
Mid-Level Nerd here (I thought I would be nerdier I guess)….only 22% more nerdy than me….Oh well I’ll make it a New Years Resolution to get my score up there……
December 30th, 2007 at 2:13 am
Looks like a helpful endorsement. I mean given this has turned into Mormon vs. Evangelical it is especially helpful.
December 30th, 2007 at 2:16 am
21 amd 22. You’re correct. But then his father and grandfathers were also the worst in their classes two. Both became 4 star admirals. His father became head of the entire Pacific region during the Vietnam War.
December 30th, 2007 at 2:16 am
*classes too
December 30th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Ryan – feel free to shoot me an email when you get up here to the Granite State — rbrun79 at gmail. I live only about 15 to 20 minutes from the State HQ in Manchester. Primary season in NH is a lot of fun and it becomes even more fun when your candidate is in the thick of the race.