It seems that Mike Huckabee’s win in Iowa has struck a negative chord with establishment Republicans. Here is a guy who is way out of the Washington mainstream trounces by nine percentage points a candidate that out spent him 10 to 1.

In the days leading up to Iowa, the affable Huckabee appeared on TV talking head shows lashing out at the “Wall Street to Washington Axis,” the apparent Republican establishment of king-makers that epitomize the phrase, “follow the money.” Today in the New York Times, several Washington insiders are quoted regarding their dismay at the rise of Huckabee, and how it helps John McCain, at least in New Hampshire.

A couple points: one, there continues to be a severe lack of understanding of the evangelical Christian voter and what is important to them as a candidate. Even Rush is in trouble with this. The evangelical isn’t conservative for conservatism sake, if that means that priorities like social justice, basic freedoms (such as the right to life), and fairness are at stake. The tenets of scripture to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before your God” (Micah 6:8) are a higher calling to these ones.

Two: Thursday’s win, as well as what could happen in South Carolina will be a continuation of the insurgency of the religious right caused by twelve years of disappointment and disillusionment. The positive side is that the evangelicals didn’t sit on their hands like what happened last November when the Dems took back the House and Senate; the got involved with gusto. However, I’m afraid that Obama may be right the President if he keeps winning and the GOP picks a nominee that falls flat with their most important yet most misunderstood constituency. There is also this feeling that the Republicans have taken the evangelical block for granted (“where else will they go?”), which, of course, they do at their peril.

Finally, no matter what the spin, the average Joe looks at the political landscape and concludes that the deck is stacked against them. That’s why the Huckabee-articulated “axis” resonates. Money flows from lower Manhattan, to K Street and the lobby-haven, to Capitol Hill back to Wall Street. Gas is going to $4.00 a gallon this summer while the oil companies profit and wages continue to stagnate.  It’s easy for populism, Huckabee-style, to be adopted by Christian families struggling to pay their mortgage, their energy bill, and their tithe to the church. Meanwhile they see, rightly or not, moneyed interests getting a free ride.

That’s why that LaGuardia-Reagan National shuttle flight might not be so cheery these days.