In their first head-to-head matchup of the 2012 presidential election, former Baptist pastor Mike Huckabee easily defeated former Latter-day Saint bishop Mitt Romney in a straw poll Saturday at the Values Voter Summit in Washington.

Huckabee, of Arkansas, trounced Romney, of Massachusetts, 28 percent to 12 percent in a non-binding vote of Christian conservative activists. Romney finished just ahead of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Indiana U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, who also received roughly 12 percent of the vote.

Huckabee’s speech was jam-packed with biblical allusions. Romney, by comparison, gave a speech that fired up the audience and hit on traditional conservative themes, but avoided speaking explicitly about Christianity. He mentioned “faith” generically and included a God Bless America-type finale, but didn’t offer any “My favorite philosopher is Jesus”-type quotes.

Romney definitely sounded like a presidential candidate, and his speech had a polish that is unusual for this early in the campaign process. He sounded sharper last week in Washington than he sounded last year in Iowa and New Hampshire.

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