Republican presidential contender wanted to quarantine AIDS victims

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, has come from nowhere to lead the Republican field in the lead-off state of Iowa. A large part of Huckabee’s appeal has been that he’s the relaxed, affable face of Christian conservatism. But the answers that he gave to a 1992 survey have put a considerable dent in that image. Huckabee proposed quarantining those who had AIDS and suggested that “multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding” should pay for it rather than the Federal government.

The problem for Huckabee is that having come from nowhere, he’s not received anywhere near the same level of scrutiny as the other candidates. As the press trawl through his record, they are going to find every dubious past statement of his. How Huckabee deals with these revelations will tell us whether he is a flash in the pan or a serious contender.