During the November 28 CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate, YouTube questioner Tyler Overman asked: “I have a quick question for those of you who would call yourselves Christian conservatives. The death penalty: What would Jesus do?” After former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee responded by defending his support for the death penalty but failing to say anything about "[w]hat ... Jesus [would] do" regarding the death penalty, debate moderator and CNN host Anderson Cooper pressed: “I do have to, though, press the question, which -- the question was ... [w]hat would Jesus do? Would Jesus support the death penalty?” Huckabee then replied: “Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office, Anderson. That's what Jesus would do.” Following the debate, Cooper asserted that Huckabee's reply was “certainly, probably one of the best answers you could possibly come up to, to that question” -- despite the fact that Huckabee, who has repeatedly invoked Jesus Christ and Christianity to explain his position on matters of public policy, did not answer Overman's question and Cooper's own follow-up.

While Huckabee -- who did not object during the debate to the “what would Jesus do” question -- did not say what he thought Jesus would do with regard to the death penalty, he routinely uses his faith and Jesus to talk about public policy matters. For example:

• On the "Issues" page of his presidential campaign website, the first “issue” listed is "Faith and Politics." On that page, Huckabee states, “My faith is my life -- it defines me. I don't separate my faith from my personal and professional lives.” Huckabee continues: “My faith doesn't influence my decisions, it drives them. For example, when it comes to the environment, I believe in being a good steward of the earth.”

• In a November 17 interview, Huckabee told the National Journal (subscription required) that he's finding “younger Christians and faith groups want to know that you're going to address poverty and the environment and energy independence,” adding, “They want us to broaden our issues, consistent with the Gospels. Jesus talked a lot about poverty.”

• In a November 27 CNN.com article, CNN chief national correspondent John King wrote that “Huckabee is anything but uncomfortable about faith-based politics, often discussing his faith, and making it a central theme of his new Iowa TV ad." In that ad, titled “Believe,” Huckabee replays a portion of his October 20 speech to the Values Voter Summit, in which he said: “Let us never sacrifice our principles for anybody's politics, not now, not ever.” The ad also displays text reading, “Christian Leader,” and notes that Huckabee supports the “Human Life Amendment,” a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban abortion.

• In a November 28 article, the Associated Press noted that, as governor, Huckabee “opposed a Republican lawmaker's efforts in 2005 to require proof of legal status when applying for state services that aren't federally mandated and proof of citizenship when registering to vote.” In defending his vote, the AP reported that Huckabee “derided the bill as un-American and un-Christian and said the bill's sponsor drank a different 'Jesus juice.' ”

In addition, in their reports on the debate, numerous media outlets highlighted Huckabee's response to the “what would Jesus do” question without noting that Huckabee did not actually answer the question:

• The Washington Post's Michael D. Shear and Dan Balz wrote on November 29: “There were moments of levity, often provided by Huckabee, whose best line of the night was in answer to a question about what Jesus would do about the death penalty,” adding that Huckabee's answer prompted “laughter on the stage and in the audience.”

• In their November 29 article, The New York Times' Michael Cooper and Marc Santora listed Huckabee's answer as one of the “high points” of the debate.

• In their November 29 report on the debate, Bloomberg's Catherine Dodge and Kristin Jensen wrote that Huckabee's answer “got one of the biggest laughs of the night.”

• ABC News' Jake Tapper asserted in a November 28 ABCNews.com article that Huckabee's answer was one of “several fun YouTube moments,” writing that “Huckabee, a Baptist minister before he entered political life, responded with characteristic wit and deft political awareness.”

• In a November 29 post on CBSNews.com blog Couric & Co., senior political editor Vaughn Ververs wrote that Huckabee gave “thoughtful and eloquent answers to questions about immigration, taxes, the death penalty and the bible, which for an ordained Baptist minister is a familiar subject.” Ververs also asserted that Huckabee delivered “the best punch lines,” citing, his response to the “what would Jesus do” question.

From CNN's November 28 broadcast of the CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate:

OVERMAN: Hi, this is Tyler Overman from Memphis, Tennessee, and I have a quick question for those of you who would call yourselves Christian conservatives. The death penalty: What would Jesus do?

COOPER: Governor Huckabee?

HUCKABEE: You know, one of the toughest challenges that I ever faced as a governor was carrying out the death penalty. I did it more than any other governor ever had to do it in my state. As I look on this stage, I'm pretty sure that I'm the only person on this stage that's ever had to actually do it.

Let me tell you, it was the toughest decision I ever made as a human being. I read every page of every document of every case that ever came before me, because it was the one decision that came to my desk that, once I made it, was irrevocable.

Every other decision, somebody else could go back and overturn, could fix if it was a mistake. That was one that was irrevocable.

I believe there is a place for a death penalty. Some crimes are so heinous, so horrible that the only response that we, as a civilized nation, have for a most uncivil action is not only to try to deter that person from ever committing that crime again, but also as a warning to others that some crimes truly are beyond any other capacity for us to fix.

Now, having said that, there are those who say, “How can you be pro-life and believe in the death penalty?”

Because there's a real difference between the process of adjudication, where a person is deemed guilty after a thorough judicial process and is put to death by all of us, as citizens, under a law, as opposed to an individual making a decision to terminate a life that has never been deemed guilty because the life never was given a chance to even exist.

COOPER: Governor?

HUCKABEE: That's the fundamental difference.

COOPER: I do have to, though, press the question, which -- the question was, from the viewer, was: What would Jesus do? Would Jesus support the death penalty?

HUCKABEE: Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office, Anderson. That's what Jesus would do.

COOPER: Congressman Tancredo: 30 seconds.

From the November 28 edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360:

COOPER: Jamal [Simmons, president of New Future Communications], one of the questions that we asked was, “What would Jesus do?” -- or I should say -- one of the YouTube viewers asked was what would Jesus do on capital punishment. Here's what Mike Huckabee said.

[begin video clip]

QUESTIONER: Hi, this is Tyler Overman from Memphis, Tennessee, and I have a quick question for those of you who would call yourselves Christian conservatives. The death penalty: What would Jesus do?

HUCKABEE: You know, one of the toughest things as a governor was carrying out the death penalty.

[...]

COOPER: [T]he question was, from the viewer, was: What would Jesus do? Would Jesus support the death penalty?

HUCKABEE: Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office, Anderson. That's what Jesus would do.

[end video clip]

COOPER: Jamal, certainly, probably one of the best answers you could possibly come up to, to that question. How do you think Mike Huckabee did tonight?

From the November 17 National Journal article:

NJ: Do you believe, as some who look at the turnout in Republican primaries believe, that the most important group is likely to be Christian conservative voters?

Huckabee: I kind of hope that's true. Christian conservatives aren't necessarily as predictable as maybe they were 20 years ago. Then there were one or two issues. But what I'm finding is, younger Christians and faith groups want to know that you're going to address poverty and the environment and energy independence. They want us to broaden our issues, consistent with the Gospels. Jesus talked a lot about poverty. I know that makes some Republicans incredibly uncomfortable, a lot of the people who don't like me.

NJ: Why?

Huckabee: Because they want to keep it focused on one or two things. They want me to just be an anti-abortionist rather than a pro-lifer. I'm not going to just condescend to an extremely narrow understanding of what life means, because I think I would then be untrue to my own conscience.