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Wiley S. Drake, pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, California, who was notified last month by the IRS that it was investigating his endorsements of Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, has again urged his followers to pray that heavenly wrath should befall Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Americans United blew the whistle last August on Drake’s backing of Huckabee on his church-affiliated radio show and in a press release distributed on church letterhead—acts that could result in loss of tax exemption.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says that critics have unfairly focused on his former career as a Southern Baptist pastor rather than his role as Arkansas governor.

“It’s been fascinating to me that people have tried to marginalize me as a candidate of the fringe,” said Huckabee at a February 12 breakfast meeting with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.