Just say 'Lincoln': How candidates compare themselves to Abe

Who's your political daddy? Why, Abraham Lincoln; who else? American politicians measure themselves by the great one. And to the surprise of absolutely no one, they are all in the Lincoln stratosphere -- although the reasons they cite may surprise you. Here's a look at how the sitting president and the people hoping to succeed him have invoked Lincoln:

President Bush

"I spent a lot of time reading about Abraham Lincoln," Bush told ABC News on Nov. 20. "Abraham Lincoln had no earthly idea that the Gettysburg Address was a great speech. All he knew is after having given it, he was condemned by a press corps that thought the person that preceded him was much better. Because it, it, because of the length that his, of his predecessor's speech. You know, history, it's just, it, I, I've always felt that there needs to be a long leash to history. That you can't judge a administration, immediately. And, particularly one that has pushed hard for some big ideas, like, like, my administration has done."

Mitt Romney

"And if I'm lucky enough to be elected president of this country and I take that oath of office, there will be no higher promise than to abide by the Constitution and the rule of law," he told ABC News in February 2007. "That's Abraham Lincoln's political religion."

Barack Obama

"The life of a tall, gangly Springfield lawyer tells us that a different future is possible," he said, referring to President Lincoln while announcing his candidacy for the president last February in Springfield, Ill. "He tells us that ... beneath all the differences of race and region, faith and station, we are one people. He tells us that there is power in hope."

Mike Huckabee

"There cannot be a geographical distinction when it comes down to something that is either right or wrong," he said about abortion on Jan. 22 in Atlanta. "Abraham Lincoln said over 100 years ago that if slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. And, ladies and gentlemen, let us say it, today it is wrong to take the life of an unborn child."

Ron Paul

"Six hundred thousand Americans died in a senseless civil war," he said on Meet the Press in December. Lincoln "did this just to enhance and get rid of the original intent of the republic.

"Every other major country in the world got rid of slavery without a civil war. I mean, that doesn't sound too radical to me. That sounds like a pretty reasonable approach."

John McCain

In the 2000 presidential race, McCain invoked Lincoln to smack down religious fundamentalists, such as the evangelist founder of South Carolina's Bob Jones University: "We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, not Bob Jones."