In a November 29 report on CNN's The Situation Room on the reactions of “24 undecided Republicans” to the previous night's CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate, CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash reported that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee “scored the best on likability.” She then aired a clip of “undecided voter” Lace Mobley saying that Huckabee “impressed me with his candidness and also his ability to answer the questions that were broached to him.” Following Mobley's comment, Bash reported that “with undecided voters,” Huckabee got the “most laughs” with the statement “Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office, Anderson. That's what Jesus would do.” But Bash did not note that in making that statement, Huckabee failed to answer both the question originally presented to him and debate moderator Anderson Cooper's follow-up.

As Media Matters for America has documented, Huckabee's statement came after 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 Huckabee -- who has repeatedly invoked Jesus Christ and Christianity to explain his position on matters of public policy -- responded by defending his support for the death penalty but failing to say anything about "[w]hat ... Jesus [would] do" regarding the death penalty, 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?” During CNN's November 28 postdebate discussion, Cooper praised the response as “certainly, probably one of the best answers you could possibly come up to, to that question.”

From the November 29 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

BASH: Rudy Giuliani is often ridiculed for constant references to 9-11.

GIULIANI: Well, the most important thing to do is to make certain we remain on offense against Islamic terrorism.

BASH: But it works. He got one of the highest marks, especially among men, talking terrorism.

Mike Huckabee scored the best on likability.

MOBLEY: Mike Huckabee actually impressed me with his candidness and also his ability to answer the questions that were broached to him.

BASH: And with these undecided voters, this got the most laughs.

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

BASH: Many of the Republican voters last night said that they were frustrated the candidates didn't talk more about things like health care and education, issues that really affect their lives.

And all of the 24 undecided Republicans who watched the debate came away still undecided. Wolf.

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.