Huckabee's name is no longer a mystery to Iowa's Republican voters, in large part because of an extensive network of home-schoolers ... who have helped lift his underfunded campaign from obscurity to the front of a crowded field. ...
While early attention focused on Romney and other better-known and better-funded opponents, home-schoolers rallied to Huckabee's cause, attracted by his faith, his politics and his decision to appoint a home-school proponent to the Arkansas board of education. They tapped a web of community and church groups that share common conservative interests, blasting them with e-mails and passing along the word about Huckabee in social settings.
If that sounds familiar it's because Joan Garrett covered much the same ground earlier this year in a series of stories.
One source told Joan:
"These students are impacting political organizations all over the country," said home-school mother Jean Whatley, 55, whose four children have worked a combined total of 20 political campaigns. "They want to transform the culture for Christ."
Garrett did the project as part of her Masters in Community Journalism program here at The Star. She has since moved on to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
