Huckabee, Looking Ahead

I try to avoid politics, but current events are just too compelling. It's like trying to not watch a train wreck. The latest mini-drama is the guy who didn't read the script, Mike Huckabee. Political pundits somehow assume he's supposed to fold up shop and go home now. Huckabee shows no intention of doing so, as shown in this AP story at WaPo: "Huckabee Pledges to Stay In Race." Maybe he deserves his shot. [Update: Huckabee just took the Kansas caucuses with 60% of the vote. No surprise, but still ...]

With Romney now out of the race, Huckabee thinks he can now get the full conservative vote as opposed to splitting it with Romney. Makes sense. If he wins a couple of the primaries over the next ten days, going head to head with McCain, he might very will catch some momentum. And one false step by McCain — if his temper flares on camera or if he has a negative health event that raises all the wrong issues for the McCain campaign — then Huckabee could end up with the Big Mo. Could he end up being the last man standing?

Now that he doesn't have to badmouth Mormonism to further his campaign, Huckabee's rhetoric might be a little more appealing. On the delegate count: "I didn't major in math; I majored in miracles." Nice line. Let's see what the voters say in the next round of primaries. If McCain is going to turn out to be a weak candidate, it is better that emerge in the primaries than in the general election, and the only way to smoke that out of him is to extend the primary season a few more weeks or months. Run, Huck, run.

PS -- Don't be surprised if a little Ron Paul spam appears in the comments. He seems to have enlisted a corps of Web Troglodytes to do online campaigning.

Comments

[Ron Paul]

Let's get the obligatory Ron Paul spam out of the way:

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"Republicans against Neo-Cons: Ron Paul 2008"
"Freedom and Security - We can have both! RP 2008"
"Stop Occupying Japan, Germany, Korea, and all 127 others! RP 2008"
"Gold at record high $860/oz),
"Dollar at all time low"
"Oil - $100/barrel"
"Stock market falling"
"More jobs shipped overseas."
"Foreclosures up"
"Is you kid's job in Bombay?"

America's Last Hope: RON PAUL!

[Jim]

Ron Paul is dropping out of the race today to focus on his House reelection campaign. It really is a McCain vs. Huckabee now.

[Guy Murray]

Maybe he deserves his shot.

Deserve or not--he's gonna take it.

Huckabee thinks he can now get the full conservative vote as opposed to splitting it with Romney.

He probably does think that. despite the fact that many well respected conservatives (not Limbaugh and Coulter) backed Romney over Huckabee early on. Maybe they'll flock to him . . . maybe not. His not so subtle anti-Mormonism though should give them pause.

go ron paul! ;-)

[BrianJ]

Since Huckabee was accused of entering the race just to sabotage Romney, don't you think it would have looked condemning if Huck had dropped out right after Romney?

[Doc]

The big problem with this strategy is that there is no way on earth the Romney camp is moving over to Huckabee. They were the fiscal conservative wing, a place where even as much as they dislike McCain, Huckabee's tax policy is even more worrisome to them.

Also, I think it would have done some good for those that propped him up in the south to have actually remembered Kennedy's speech, that those who would vote against for his religion should realize they will likely be next. Americans that would vote Evangelical ain't looking so hot. What an ugly, insane, preventable mess.

[Clark Goble]

He'll be gone next week. He's using this as leverage to get the VP spot which he won't get.

[Dave]

Ron Paul hasn't recruited me but I still endorse him.

[Mormon Heretic]

I say Huckabee is just running to be VP. Other contenders are apparently Mitt (according to Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanon), and Joe Lieberman (according to Pat Buchanon.) Would the choice of a VP make anyone more/less likely to vote for McCain?

I can't remember who said "The VP isn't worth a bucket of spit", (or something similar), but those are my sentiments.

[john f.]

I really don't think Romney's name is in serious competition for McCain's VP spot. McCain could not even hide his disdain for Romney on national television, a place where candidates are skilled in putting on a happy face and smiling through rough spots.

[Mike Parker]

I hope my comments aren't considered "spam." I'm LDS, I read this blog regularly, and have commented before.

I also have supported Ron Paul since I discovered him last summer. Romney's campaign was never about ideas -- he made those up in order to run -- it was about making Mitt Romney President of the United States. Ron Paul, on the other hand, runs on principle and with a 30-year history of supporting the Constitution -- a very Mormon idea.

Republicans -- and Mormon Republicans -- have ignored Ron Paul to their own hurt.

[Dave]

Mike, as a regular reader, you're grandfathered in. It's the drive-by linkers I was referring to. I notice Ron Paul got half the votes that McCain did in Kansas, a very respectable showing.

[Mike Parker]

Well, with McCain in the lead and Huckabee unattractive to the non-evangelicals in the GOP, Ron Paul is something of a protest vote now.

Which is unfortunate, because his message is an important one. Just not important enough to a significant percentage of the Republican Party.

[R.W. Rasband]

I'm hoping Huck stays in the race long enough for McCain to look weak, and for himself to look like a clueless loser unable to give up the spotlight. This will give me a much-needed dose of schadenfreude after Mitt's rejection. Huck is anathema to non-evangelicals in the GOP. If McCain is foolish enough to put him on the ticket, they can kiss the mountain West goodbye. And if the Democrats nominate Obama, it would be a wipe-out of historic proportions. So maybe Mitt is better off after all.

[JimD]

Anyone notice Huck whining about the way the GOP did their caucus in WA, bringing out the old "Soviet Union" imagery?

This, from the guy who did the back-room dealing in West Virginia. Yeah.

[Dave]

Let's see, Washington State awards a third of their delegates based on caucuses, a third based on a primary, and a third based on dart-throwing contest at a bar near Pioneer Square on Chief Seattle's birthday ... right? Why would anyone complain?

[John C.]

"If McCain is foolish enough to put him on the ticket, they can kiss the mountain West goodbye."

Um, don't you think that they are all willing to kiss the Mountain West goodbye?

[Dave]

Look at the color maps for the last two elections. No, I don't think Republicans can write off the Mountain West.

[Michael]

For the record, Ron Paul's total delegates were in the low double digits, and he was soundly rejected by voters in almost every state, with the exception of some of hte latter ones, in which he became a "protest" vote, as noted above, just as the defunct Romney campaign was. Romney got more votes than Paul did, even though he was out of the race.

Paul's social and political anarchism can't possibly be attractive to Mormons, can it?