Huckabee says prayers behind surge

Mike Huckabee wears his faith on his sleeve in his presidential bid.

In a recent speech, he suggested that the faith and prayers of others -- and some divine intervention -- is driving his rise in the GOP nomination polls, to second nationally and in the lead in Iowa.

He spoke at a Nov. 28 convocation at Liberty University, the Virginia college founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell. A student, who called him "Mr. President," asked what was behind his surge.

Pundits have attributed his rise to his likability on the campaign trail, his appeal to religious conservatives, and his performance in recent debates.

Huckabee had a different answer, according to a YouTube video aired today by MSNBC and accounts of the speech in Liberty publications.

"There's only one explanation for it, and it's not a human one. It's the same power that helped a little boy with two fish and five loaves feed a crowd of 5,000 people," the ordained Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor replied as students cheered, "and that's the only way that our campaign could be doing what it's doing,"

"And I'm not being facetious, nor am I trying to be trite," Huckabee continued. "There literally are thousands of people across this country who are praying that a little will become much. And it has, and it defies all explanation. It has confounded the pundits, and I'm enjoying every minute of their trying to figure it out. And until they look at it from a.. just experience beyond human, they'll never figure it out."