Mike Huckabee was the consensus winner in the Values Voters Debate held in Florida a couple of nights ago; we’re looking for a significant bump in Huckabee’s buzz share in Wonkosphere today. Participants included Huckabee, Reps. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, Duncan Hunter of California and Ron Paul of Texas, as well as Sen. Sam Browback of Kansas, Alan Keyes, and John Cox.  Huckabee won 64% of the delegates available in a kind-of Values Voters straw poll.

According to Kevin Tracy, “Mike Huckabee was clear, decisive, and official winner of last night’s Value Voters Debate. Out of the 340 conservative delegates, Mike Huckabee won 219! He won over over 100 delegates from the start of the night’s debate. Sam Brownback came in a distant 4th place with just 18 (after starting with 24). Ahead of Brownback were Alan Keyes in 3rd place with 24 votes and then Ron Paul in 2nd (yeah, I know) with 44 votes (after starting with 53). Duncan Hunter was the only other candidate to win delegates over during the debate, going from 8 to 13. Fred Thompson suffered the most, falling from 52 delegates to just 15.”  Right Wing News provides a play-by-play analysis.

Huckabee commented afterwards, ““We won huge,” said Huckabee after the votes were in. “I’m pleased, and proud, and honored to have this historic endorsement from America’s leading social conservatives who believe, as I do, in the core values which define American culture and life. This overwhelming vote affirms that conservatives are coalescing around one candidate and that candidate is me. Together, we will prevail.”

Missing from the debate were Romney, Giuliani, Thompson, and McCain: ““How can we expect these no-show candidates to take on Osama Bin Laden and other world leaders when they’re afraid to show up and answer questions from Phyllis Schlafly?” asked Rabbi Aryeh Spero of the Jewish Action Alliance, and Values Voter debate panelist. Rick Scarborough, President of Vision America, and Values Voter Debate Committee member added, “If you care about our votes, you need to care about our values enough to show up.”  All Democratic candidates have refused to participate in VV’s debate also.

The debate was not without contraversy.  Sam Brownback’s campaign made a statement afterwards criticizing Huckabee’s response to a question about support for governments which allow abortion, and Ron Paul supporters claim that a poll by WorldNet Daily shows Paul beating Huckabee 50% to 13%. 

While this may not be a watershed moment for Huckabee, the Fall has just begun and small victories can add up.