This article is reprinted with permission from Sunlit Uplands. Im pretty sure I know Metro’s response already.-BP

From what I have observed, John McCain only consults conservative voices in the Republican Party to ensure he is working against their interests. It may be the result of the drugs and brain washing that Soviet doctors applied during his imprisonment in Vietnam. Nevertheless, some conservative leaders are making one last attempt to salvage the 2008 presidential election. The following was reported by Right Wing Watch, published by People for the American Way.

A few weeks ago, we wrote several posts about the meeting in Colorado where a large group of right-wing leaders finally decided to support John McCain. At the time, all we had were second-hand accounts that those in attendance had decided that Barack Obama would “decimate [the] moral values” they hold dear and, as such, collectively decided to support McCain as the lesser of two evils.

Glossed over in the press coverage was the fact that their support for McCain seemed to rest heavily on his choice of candidate for Vice President, with those in attendance making their preference known that they really want him to pick Mike Huckabee:

Those in attendance also reached a consensus that they would send a letter to McCain, R-Ariz., encouraging him to consider former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as his choice for vice president.

“It’s not a demand; it’s a request,” said [Mat] Staver, who couldn’t say when McCain would be contacted about Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist pastor who resonated with some evangelical voters during the Republican primaries.

Until now, the content and signatories of that letter remained unknown. But recently Clark Vandeventer, founder and CEO of World Changers, Inc, who reportedly attended the meeting and signed the letter, posted it on a blog called Veritas Rex and it seems clear that they were not so much “requesting” that McCain pick Huckabee as his Vice President as outright warning him that doing so is “necessary for [his] success”:

-Daniel J. Cassidy

 Today is Vertical Day - Here is an Email from Mike this AM:

I know that VERTICAL DAY will be great for HuckPAC as it is only minutes away, and I wish I could say I’m going “vertical” as well—as in flying out of Rwanda.Late last night, we were rolling down the runway for take-off from Kiglali when we lost the right engine and had to abort the take-off. Fortunately, our ground speed was only 60 mph and the pilots acted professionally and immediately shut down the take off and stopped the plane before we attempted to go wheels up. The reason I know that is because I was in the cockpit with the crew when it happened. Of all the times to be invited to sit up front for the take off in a 767, it would be last night! As we rolled, it first sounded like we had blown a tire, but passengers on the right side of the plane saw flames coming out of the engine. There was an apparent air pressure problem in the engine and we lost the engine within seconds of the critical “point of no return”. We were taken off the plane and brought back to the hotel, getting to sleep around 2am, looking for flights to get us home. The latest for me is a very long journey that will go from Rwanda to Nairobi to Paris to Atlanta and eventually to Little Rock IF—and I stress IF—all goes according to plan. I have to cancel some speeches and events, but in light of what might have been, it’s not that bad.If you saw the movie “Hotel Rwanda,” you know Don Cheadle’s character took care of the unexpected guests for over 100 days during the Genocide. Kigali is now a very safe and orderly city, but if Don Cheadle could get me a flight out of here straightway, I would be ever so grateful!The trip has been truly remarkable in being able to see a nation reborn and experiencing spiritual and economic revival. There’s still a long way to go, but yesterday we met with President Kagame for almost 4 hours and came away with real admiration for a determined leader who does not want his country to become dependent, but independent. He turns away relief efforts that do not create capacity for growth and empowerment of his own people. His refreshing view is that to simply dump money into the hands of needy people is wrong and counter-productive. He is about creating real jobs and insisting that people work and earn what they receive. I will offer updates when and if I can—often dependent on a VERY unstable internet capacity here. Even though I am not able to participate the way I had planned, I hope you will still join me in promoting the candidates that will be posting on Huck PAC throughout the day. We have asked the candidates and supporters of Huck PAC to blog about their ideas and solutions to the problems we face. Many will also discuss their feelings and beliefs about marriage and life I hope you will visit us starting at noon today and check back in frequently throughout the day. I also ask, and this is critical, that you promote what you read by sending posts about the candidates to friends and family. Their is a “send to a friend link” in the upper right corner of each blog post. We will track the number of friends these blogs are being sent to. We think it is a great way to show how committed we are to these candidates. Also share these blog posts with bloggers you know and encourage them to blog about what they read. We have a chance to do something special for the candidates today, if and only if, we work together. From Kigali (still), Mike Huckabee

 

 

 

 

 

Make no mistake about it, evangelicals are still very important to the GOP electorate. In 2004, 34% of the Bush vote came from self-proclaimed evangelicals (of which I identify).  69% of evangelicals in general voted for Bush. I’m not sure what the other 31% were thinking, but you can be sure that they do not listen to Dobson. (just kidding).

This year, (so far) McCain is attracting 61% of that same demographic. That is a catastrophic loss of support. It is still a great majority, but with this election being so close, and with evangelicals being courted left and right by Obama (The Joshua Generation, anyone?), you can be sure that the left sees this as available swing voters. (The Joshua Generation has been scrapped because of a naming conflict with a legitimate Christian organization, but you can be sure the the concept lives on)

In a recent interview with Beliefnet.com, Mark DeMoss of Spirited Public Relations believes that Obama could get some 40 percent of the Evangelical vote in November.

There’s a reaction among some evangelicals to swing out to the left in an effort to prove that evangelicals are really not that right wing,” DeMoss said. “There’s some concern that maybe Republicans haven’t done that well. And there’s this fascination with Barack Obama. So I will not be surprised if he gets one third of the evangelical vote.

I strongly disagree, and feel that when people evaluate the issues, they will follow solidly with the party that has been the torch bearer for Christian ideology, but too may people do not look at issues, they follow emotion. If that is the case, then the RockStar will siphon some badly needed electorate away from McCain.

We need to be promoting the “truthing” materials about BHO to our friends and families. Our grassroots (and netroots, but not to the same extent) need to be well fertilized. We need to get the word out to the other undecideds about how the Big “O” is just another Big Chicag”O” democrat.

Partly based on data from the Pew Forum:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has a smaller lead among white evangelical Protestants than Republican George W. Bush had at a similar point in the 2004 campaign, even though Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has made few inroads into this key constituency. Those who are unaffiliated with a particular religion, on the other hand, are just as supportive of the Democratic candidate as they were at this point in the 2004 campaign and are substantially more supportive of Obama than they were of Democratic candidate Al Gore in June 2000. 

“White evangelicals are more undecided today than they were at this point in the previous two presidential elections. More than one-in-ten (12%) white evangelicals say they do not know who they would vote for if the election was held today.”

“And as was the case in 2004, people who seldom or never attend worship services are more supportive of the Democratic candidate, as compared with those who attend services at least once a week. In June 2004, 52% of those who attend church seldom or never expressed support for Kerry, compared with 41% for Bush. This year, Obama enjoys an even larger lead of 21 points over McCain among this group (55% to 34%).”

This bloc of “Non-attending” Christians is growing at much larger rate than that of those who attend church at least once or more a week. This is a problem on multiple levels.

h/t: Adam Graham

You can follow more on the Evangelical Outreach at The F3 Coalition Blog

SGS, in a comment over here, stated that Mike hasn’t done “anything” since losing to McCain on March the 4th. He apparently overlooked the impact of his speech at the Texas GOP convention. Mike had by far the biggest applause of the event, easily wining over the Newt/ Cornyn/ Perry/ Hutchinson speeches by wide margins.

Texas is the largest conservative state in the union - And he brought the audience to their feet more than any other speaker.

Mike is still campaigning for Republican candidates all across the country, and will possibly be hosting his own Fox News show come this fall.

In case you missed it, here is Mike’s speech from the Texas GOP Convention in June.

Read past the fold to see the videos…

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“Sure, he’s a wonderful person … He’d make a great vice president.” - Mitt Romney, December, 2007

(more…)

I have been one of the most strident proponents of the “Veeps have very little impact” school of thought-and I do believe that this line of thinking is correct for the most part. However, that does not mean that the Veep selection has no impact and that we should refrain from looking back to learn from the choices that worked out for the best. Simply because there are no “gamechangers” in the field does not mean that Sen. McCain cannot gain a great deal if he chooses wisely. For my part, I believe there are two selections that have the potential of helping McCain across the electoral finish line come November: Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.

Selecting Gov. Romney as the Veep would accomplish several important things. First of all, Sen, McCain would gain a multitude of enthusiastic volunteers that would be of great help in closing the enthusiasm gap with the Democrats. Secondly, as Mike Allen’s article mentions, Gov. Romney has the potential to raise the kind of money that can level the playing field with Obama. Mitt has also been vetted, is more than ready for primetime, and has the resume, charisma, and gravitas that will enable voters to imagine him being able to step in as President from the get go. Mitt’s Michigan roots are a benefit as well.

McCain has stated that it is important to him to look back at the Vice Presidential picks that have worked out for the best to guide him in his selection. I would suggest that President Reagan’s selection of George H.W. Bush in 1980 is perhaps the best model in which to base his selection. President Reagan’s selection of Bush served to unify the Republican Party’s Conservative and Moderate Wings and was a signal to Bush’s primary supporters that they would have a place in a Ronald Reagan led Republican Party. It would be quite hypocritical for the Rush Limbaugh’s, Laura Ingraham’s, National Reviews, etc…, of the Conservative punditocracy, who enthusiastically supported Romney during the later stages of the primary fight, to withhold their support from the ticket when McCain has made this concession.

Mike Huckabee brings important benefits to the table as well. Huck’s Army is made up of many of the foot soldiers that brought us victory in 2000 & 2004. Want these folks back in the game, answering phones, knocking on doors, etc…? Then select Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee would also completely defuse Obama’s Evangelical/Religious voter outreach, and as we have have seen from the SurveyUSA polls, Huck appears to appeal to a certain segment of Democrats who are reluctant to pull the lever for Obama.

So the bottom line is this… There are really only two candidates that can bring significant benefits to McCain come November: Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee; and (demogogues aside) there are few voters who would be open to voting for McCain that would be turned off by either of their selections (especially if Obama ends up choosing a conventional liberal such as Joe Biden).

So the tiebreaker for me is this: why go with the candidate who campaigned on blowing up the Reagan Coalition and touted the end of the three-legged stool of Conservatism when you can choose one the most eloquent advocates of the American Conservative Movement and all of its underlying principles?

If it is truly down to Romney, Portman, or Thune, choose Mitt Romney. It’s a smart choice.

The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz is reporting:

Mike Huckabee may have flamed out as a presidential candidate, but his glibness and humor did not go unnoticed.

The former Arkansas governor has signed a one-year deal as a political commentator for Fox News, where he will sound off on a variety of programs. A knowledgeable source says an announcement is expected soon.

Other cable channels had been pursuing Huckabee, who provided commentary on MSNBC during one of its primary-night broadcasts. Fox has given a platform to such former Republican politicos as Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove.

Huckabee honed his broadcasting skills during his years as a Baptist minister, and his underfunded White House campaign relied heavily on TV appearances, from his constant calls to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to his stint playing air hockey with Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert. His first job, at 14, was reading the news and weather at a radio station.

The deal keeps Huckabee in the spotlight as he contemplates a second run in 2012, a tactic perfected by Pat Buchanan, who hosted CNN’s “Crossfire” between presidential campaigns.

No word on whether the deal calls for Huckabee’s band to play while Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity kick off their programs.

I had to make sure that this juicy quote from Governor Huckabee had not already been discussed when it was published last week, and I found that it hasn’t. For those who have read it and don’t feel the need to discuss it, move on.

Last week, Mike Huckabee gave an interview with the Huffington Post’s Will Mari. As one learns to expect from an interview with the former Republican candidate, he’s got a lot of interesting ideas…

“The greatest threat to classic Republicanism is not liberalism; it’s this new brand of libertarianism, which is social liberalism and economic conservatism, but it’s a heartless, callous, soulless type of economic conservatism because it says “look, we want to cut taxes and eliminate government. If it means that elderly people don’t get their Medicare drugs, so be it. If it means little kids go without education and healthcare, so be it.” Well, that might be a quote pure economic conservative message, but it’s not an American message.”
-Governor Mike Huckabee
May 26, 2008

I kid you not…

it’s a heartless, callous, soulless type of economic conservatism because it says “look, we want to cut taxes and eliminate government. If it means that elderly people don’t get their Medicare drugs, so be it. If it means little kids go without education and healthcare, so be it.” Well, that might be a quote pure economic conservative message, but it’s not an American message.”

Ronald Reagan, who was idolized by “heartless libertarians,” is probably spinning in his grave. This is the guy who claims to have come in 2nd in the GOP nomination (though that’s debatable) basically telling the economic wing of the Reagan coalition to jump off a cliff. However, many of his supporters will still forgive him. After all, he’s evangelical.

Of course, the Libertarian candidate for President issued a response to Huckabee’s rant, which thankfully meant that I didn’t have to go look for the quotes from Reagan myself.

Libertarian Party Nominee for President, Bob Barr:

“Perhaps Governor Huckabee is forgetting that it is compassionate conservatism that led to our record budget deficits and explosion in the size of government. His vision of more of the same will lead his party deeper into the quagmire. I am reminded of then-Governor Ronald Reagan saying ‘I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism’ and that ‘The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.’”

Thanks to MattC for his excellent work in analyzing the SUSA swing state polls to determine the relative strength of potential McCain running mates. Of the four tested, it’s quite clear that Huckabee helps the ticket the most. He’s the only one in clear positive territory. Romney, the conventional Republican in the group, is just barely keeping his head above water. But that’s more than I can say for my guy, Joe Lieberman, who is in negative territory. Throw the Pawlenty polls away because no one has heard of him aside from political junkies.

So why is Huckabee doing so well? I’d say there are three reasons. First, Huckabee, like McCain, is pretty much despised by traditional Republicans and conservatives. Considering that most of the nation hates Republicans right now, the whole concept of “the enemy of my enemy…” sets in and Huck scores points for giving the finger to the GOP base. Let’s face it: Inanimate Carbon Rod could run on a “Republicans Suck!” platform and win a House seat right now.

Secondly, there are literally millions of working class Democrats and Democratic leaners who voted for Hillary in the primaries and who are now politically homeless thanks to Obama’s all but certain nomination. Huckabee’s economic populism combined with his clear, unabashed appeal to WalMart and Sam’s Club voters is likely helping McCain on the margins with Hillary voters who like Johnny Mac but who secretly fear that he’ll end up governing like just another corporatist Republican, a la George Bush. Even though my guy Lieberman is technically left of center on economics, it’s been a long time since he’s marketed himself on the subject of economic angst, while Huck’s whole campaign has been about the plight of the working classes. Thus, Huck is better at winning Democrats than even some Democrats!

Third, Huck is likely also helping on the margins with pro-lifers and other social conservatives who only vote Republican because of judges and cultural issues. These voters aren’t getting the cultural cues from McCain that they got from Bush, and Huck brings a couple of points to the GOP ticket by reassuring pro-life liberals that McCain’s will be a pro-life Administration.

Of course, all of this is only worth a couple of percentage points. But in an election where a point or two in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan could determine who next sits in the Oval Office, every point matters. So why shouldn’t McCain give Huckabee another look?

The reason is that, like Rudy Giuliani, Huckabee looks great on paper but translates poorly in real time.

A running mate that reassures pro-lifers about McCain would be great. But Huckabee is probably too socially conservative and too bathed in religion for the ticket. Huck on the ticket means Democratic attack ads featuring Huck’s myriad of past statements on all things sectarian. Look, there’s Huck suggesting that AIDS patients should be shut off from the rest of society. Don’t look now, there’s Huck denying evolution again. Yikes, there’s Huck bashing the Mormon religion. Ultimately, the views that helped Huck win in an uber-religious, evangelical, socially conservative state will be a drag on the ticket in the general.

Similarly, no one has to tell me that McCain should pick a running mate who reaches out to Hillary Democrats. But Huck will ultimately do so in a way that will send economic conservatives packing. We saw this during the primary season, when Huck bashed business, attacked pro-market folks for their greed, and sent Ed Rollins out to call for the removal of economic conservatives from the GOP coalition. Conservatives may have forgotten about this for now, but just wait until Huck joins the ticket and once again dons his full populist jacket.

The problem with Huckabee is the problem with Rudy. Giuliani led GOP presidential primary polls for three years before ending the race with one delegate. That’s because Rudy looks great on paper as an economic conservative with a heart who’s tough on bad guys and who’s less divisive on social issues than the current president. But in practice, things didn’t work out as planned. The social moderates that Rudy was supposed to bring in couldn’t stomach his economic and security views. The conservatives that were supposed to stick with Rudy because of economics and security couldn’t stand his social views. And his New Yawk persona ended up being a liability on the national stage, as a tough guy in the Big Apple is a jerk everywhere else in America. The result: Rudy was left with nothing.

If Huckabee is put on the ticket, I fear the result would be similar. Huck’s combination of far-left economics and far-right social policy would leave him as neither fish nor fowl and would scare away everybody. The fact that he is tailor made for a deep south state full of evangelicals would work about as well in Pennsylvania as Rudy’s New Yawkishness did in Iowa. And like Rudy, Huckabee can be a real jerk. His comment on pointing a gun at Obama alone should disqualify him from the post, and probably did.

But just because Huckabee is the wrong messenger doesn’t mean that the message should be discarded. McCain clearly benefits from a running mate who can attract working class Democrats and who can reassure social conservatives. There has to be someone else with those creds that McCain can select who won’t scare away anyone currently supporting McCain. Someone who can reach out to economic moderates without pissing off economic conservatives. Someone who can reinforce McCain as a pro-life candidate without turning off social moderates. And, of course, whoever it is has to be someone McCain likes and trusts.

And all of that leads us back to Tim Pawlenty, who, reportedly, just declined McCain’s invite for an event that is expressly being billed as NOT a veep meet-and-greet. Which of course means it absolutely is a veep meet-and-greet. And Pawlenty isn’t going to be there.

And the political world keeps getting more and more confusing.

Now that SUSA has polled three different states by adding four different possible Veep selections to the bottom of an Obama or McCain ticket, let’s step back and take stock of what we’ve learned thus far.

There have been 12 matchups possible for each of the four Veep prospects (against four different tickets in three different states), and here’s statistically how each has played out:

Huckabee
Perhaps surprisingly, Huckabee fared the best out of the four prospects. Overall, he helped the McCain ticket by an average of 2.58 points. Additionally, he wasn’t a drag on the ticket in any matchup (that is, the McCain/Huckabee numbers were never lower than the original McCain numbers). He didn’t affect McCain’s numbers at all in 4 matchups and boosted the numbers in 8 of them:

Average: 2.58
Drag: 0
Even: 4
Help: 8

Romney
Romney was the only other selection that helped the ticket on average, though not nearly as much as Huckabee. He also helped in 8 out of the 12 matchups:

Average: 0.58
Drag: 3
Even: 1
Help: 8

Pawlenty
Pawlenty, one of the current frontrunners for the veep slot, dragged the ticket in every single matchup resulting in hurting McCain by an average of nearly 3 points:

Average: -2.92
Drag: 12
Even: 0
Help: 0

Lieberman
Lieberman didn’t fare much better than Pawlenty:

Average: -1.17
Drag: 8
Even: 2
Help: 2

Of course, there’s a lot that affected SUSA’s numbers. Nobody helped McCain when paired up against Obama/Edwards, by far the strongest Dem team polled. Pawlenty doesn’t have the name recognition that the other three options have. These results are only for three states, one of which isn’t going to turn red this year anyway. And there’s a hundred more variables that affect these outcomes. But this could at least give us a reasonable starting off point for discussing the worth of these four possibilities.

For myself, I was honestly surprised how well Huckabee polled and how much he helped improve McCain’s numbers. If the polls keep showing this sort of trend, I will have to be forced to re-examine my assumptions about Huckabee and the GOP.

All together now: no thanks.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Sunday he’d like to be John McCain’s running mate.

“There’s no one I would rather be on a ticket with than John McCain,” said Huckabee, who was a stronger than expected challenger against McCain for the Republican presidential nomination. “All during the campaign when I was his rival, not a running mate, there was no one who was more complimentary of him publicly and privately. … I still wanted to win, but if I couldn’t, John McCain was always the guy I would have supported and have now supported.

Yup. This has effectively killed any shot that Huckabee had of being the vice president. I really can’t even fathom how he thought that this joke would be funny. The silence is deafening.

This is funny.

MikeHuckabee.com, the official website of Mike Huckabee for President, is showing a countdown to April 15th when it will launch something big.

One MMM reader notes:

The countdown posted at www.mikehuckabee.com is being touted on blogs, and articles as the announcement date that JohnMcCain’s name will scroll to the top of the site, with Mike’s underneath it. The star is the same as the one used on McCain’s site, and the gold/blue is similar to McCain’s site, as well.

The ONLY thing that makes sense about it is that McCain will ignore his advisors, stick with his “gut” and select the guy he promised the spot to after Iowa. It’s the kind of thing I could see McCain doing.

Here’s the setup.

Lowell Brown, the savvy legal eagle over at the Article VI blog, links to this article by Warren Smith. (Lowell and crew are masters at surveying the current intersection of politics and religion. Its an important post which we will discuss at some later date but Smith’s claim is the issue at hand.)

In his WorldMag article, Smith alleges that Paul Weyrich (noted conservative Christian leader who endorsed Romney last November) now openly regrets his endorsement. Quoting Weyrich: “Friends, before all of you and before almighty God, I want to say I was wrong.” Smith continues:

In a quiet, brief, but passionate speech, Weyrich essentially confessed that he and the other leaders should have backed Huckabee, a candidate who shared their values more fully than any other candidate in a generation. He agreed with Farris that many conservative leaders had blown it. By chasing other candidates with greater visibility, they failed to see what many of their supporters in the trenches saw clearly: Huckabee was their guy.

Lowell thinks Smith is spinning. I’m not convinced. Its difficult for me to claim spin with that direct quote from Weyrich. Still, context is everything.

My sources tell my that Weyrich (like many conservatives) was not a little miffed about Mitt’s endorsement of McCain. I understand his sentiment but disagree with his reasoning.

The gist of the meeting, which Smith says took place in early March, lambastes leaders for not getting behind Huck. Its hard to justify this thinking. I could use the same logic in my corner to berate Iowan Evangelicals for not getting behind Mitt (which is the demographic move that started the whole McCain ball rolling after all).

From my perspective Mitt’s McCain move was calculated but completely logical. McCain has always been the snubbed candidate from most sides of the conservative playground. But today, he’s the only guy left to be picked for the kickball game. The good news is this: with the anti-Bush electorate so vocal, McCain may just be the best guy to put up against the Dems. This is what Mitt sees and what I hope our readers will see as well.

To wit: conservatives who oppose McCain for political reasons are essentially “kicking against the pricks” - a rough venture when the alternatives are President Clinton or Obama.

Still, Weyrich is expressing a certain bewilderment and understandable angst which many conservative Christians are feeling about McCain. Another source who is deeply connected in Evangelical circles expressed his dismay that McCain isn’t reaching out to them.

A third source confirmed this feeling but indicated that its mostly par for the course. “McCain is coming to these conservative events but he does so just to check the box that says he was there. He holds no private meetings, no meet and greets and never lingers to mix with the crowd.”

I hope he’s wrong. Its going to take more than the facade of placation to placate these masses.

Still, context is everything. While Weyrich was miffed at Mitt I’m told he’s also a bit perturbed about Huck’s defense of Reverend Wright. What goes around comes around.

Mike Huckabee finally officially dropped out of the race last night after McCain swept the four contests in VT, RI, OH, and TX. He finished with somewhere between 230-270 delegates and eight state wins under his belt (IA, AL, AR, GA, TN, WV, LA, and KS).

Where Mike goes from here remains to be seen. Rumors have been floating around that he will run for Senate, angle for the Veep slot, work to get a speaking slot at the Convention, run again in ‘12, or just return to a private life.

From Newsmax:

Forget Mike Huckabee as a running mate for John McCain, his closest supporters say — there’s no chance he’ll be on the GOP presidential ticket.

So writes veteran political columnist Robert Novak, who reports that political insiders close to McCain’s presidential campaign “have put out the word that there is absolutely no chance that his last remaining major opponent for the GOP presidential nomination, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, will become McCain’s running mate.”

Novak explains that McCain personally likes the former Arkansas governor, and his campaign hasn’t wanted “to antagonize Huckabee’s evangelical supporters, whose backing will be needed in the general election,” adding that he “is unacceptable to economic conservatives.”

“The immediate problem that Huckabee poses for McCain strategists is how to get him out of the presidential race without offending him,” Novak explains.

While Huckabee cannot possibly get enough delegates to win the GOP nomination, he remains the elephant in McCain’s room, worrying his campaign “by threatening to win an occasional state, as he did recently in Kansas.” Moreover, Novak notes that Huckabee “attempted to upset McCain in Virginia, though McCain wound up winning the primary there by a comfortable nine points.”

Novak, however, fails to mention what may be the McCain camp’s real anxiety over Huckabee’s remaining in the race: fear over a brokered convention, possibly overturning the primary results.

The vast majority of Gov. Mitt Romney’s Michigan delegates will vote for Sen. John McCain. This is despite the efforts of Gov. Huckabee, who sent his wife Janet to try to encourage Romney’s delegation from joining the McCain Camp:

Michigan Republicans sought to unite their organization behind Sen. John McCain on Saturday, elected a slate of delegates to the national convention that will likely be packed with McCain supporters.

But the campaign of Mike Huckabee, who has continued his quest despite having almost no chance at winning the nomination, fought efforts by McCain and Michigan primary winner Mitt Romney to deliver Romney’s former delegates to McCain. Huckabee’s campaign — aided by a trip to Lansing by the candidate’s wife, Janet — said they believe they succeeded in electing at least five Huckabee supporters to the state’s delegation, adding to the two the former Arkansas governor won by virtue of his performance in the Jan. 15 primary.

But, the McCain campaign said it has 56 of the 60 delegates, which would leave Huckabee with four.

Huckabee’s decision to remain in the race, and to contest every delegate in states such as Michigan, appeared aimed less at winning than at slowing McCain’s march to the 1,191-delegate total he needs to clinch the nomination.

With Romney and McCain joining forces, most of the state’s GOP machinery was backing efforts to close party ranks behind the Arizona senator.

“We need your help,” Holly Hughes, a McCain supporter and one of the state’s representatives on the Republican National Committee, implored the 3,000 or so activists gathered here. “We need to come together or we all lose.”

But Janet Huckabee passed up a chance to travel to the Cayman Islands, where her husband was delivering a speech Saturday, to campaign here. After addressing each of the 15 congressional-district caucuses that chose delegates on Friday night, she spoke to the full convention on Saturday, telling them to defy the calls of party elders and use their own judgment.

“You have an opportunity to exercise that choice and that will,” she said.

The precise breakdown of the 60 delegates Michigan will send to St. Paul, Minn., this summer probably won’t be known for a few days. But the McCain and Romney campaigns, and state party officials, were confident that the vast majority of the 45 slots that had been allocated to Romney will be held by McCain supporters. Romney ended his presidential bid earlier this month, which under state party rules mean the 45 delegates he had been awarded will go to the convention formally uncommitted to any candidate.

A majority of Louisiana’s delegates also commit to McCain:

A majority of Louisiana’s 47 Republican National Convention delegates tell The Associated Press they intend to back for Senator John McCain for president.

Louisiana Republicans met Saturday to divvy up 44 of the state’s delegates to the national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul in September.

Louisiana’s Feb. 9 presidential primary would have pledged 20 at-large delegates had a candidate received at least 50 percent of the ballots cast. With Huckabee winning with 43 percent and McCain right behind with 42 percent, no at-large delegates were awarded.

The reality is that not only is it a mathematical impossibility for Gov. Huckabee to gain enough delegates to win the Republican nomination, but with Gov. Romney pledging his delegates to Sen. McCain we are now nearing the point of impossibility of forcing a brokered convention as well.

The motivation for Gov. Huckabee to continuing in the race when the math is plain to us all (even us non-math majors) is beyond me. What is left to accomplish by staying in the race, other than to prevent our party from unifying around our nominee and getting ready to fight our real enemy, the Democrats?

How to be a gracious loser:

Of course, as we have noted here on several occasions — Mitt Romney seems to be following the Ronald Reagan 1976 playbook. His CPAC speech has been compared to Reagan’s ‘76 convention speech — and now — his endorsement is being compared to Reagan’s support of Ford …

But while Ronald Reagan’s loss — and his re-birth in ‘80 — is a fairly recent model to use as a comparison, the archetype is almost as old as time. As Jung would put it, this entire narrative has long been a part of our “collective unconscious.”

In essence, whether he’s doing it consciously. or not, Mitt Romney is seeking to tap into a mythological narrative called the “Hero’s Journey.”

If you’ve read Arthur or the Odyssey — or have seen Star Wars or Rocky — you are familiar with the idea. Before reaching the “promised land,” a hero must first endure his “wilderness years.” This is essentially a right of passage or initiation (I’ve written that Mitt Romney finally passed his “Initiation” into the conservative movement.)

Of course, the last stage of the “Hero’s Journey” is when the hero reaches his destiny and in a sense, rises from the dead. If you’re a movie fan, this is the part when Rocky finally wins or when Han Solo and Luke Skywalker are given their awards. Or if you like politics, it’s the day Reagan wins after everyone thought he was finished in ‘76.

In Mitt Romney’s scenario, he becomes the Republican standard-bearer, and ultimately is elected president.

(I should add, Rudy has been a spectacularly gracious loser as well)

How not to be:

Mike Huckabee is rapidly showing all the nasty characteristics that I warned everybody about. See here, his response to Mitt Romney’s gracious endorsement of John McCain. Huck whines that Romney “attacked” him — ignoring that all of Romney’s negative ads, etc., were absolutely 100% issue-based — while trying to play the martyr who never made a personal attack on Romney. Of course, Huck is the guy who repeatedly did attack Romney in personal terms, especially raising questions about Romney’s religion. The crack about Mormons believing weird things about Satan, etc., remains the lowest blow of any campaign this year. Gimme a break.

I have no love for Huckabee, I won’t deny it, but I could have if he had shown perhaps an inkling of gentlemanship these last week. He could have kept running without attacking Romney, yet he shows no signs of stopping. Mitt’s out, no longer a threat and all Huckabee can do is lob bombs at Romney- back handed and front handed. Last night on O’Reilly, Huckabee made the laughable assertion that it’s ironic that the two candidate who are left in the race are the ones who ran the most civil campaigns! Is he nuts? I think the civility awards would actually go to Ron Paul who has been fair to every candidate and Rudy Giuliani.

I am not sure what specific action of Huckabee shows him to be a person of good character. I am not saying (at east here) that he is not but what shows that he is? As a matter of fact, I can’t think of one scenario in which he has shown the ability to work for the common good. I would love to be proven wrong, but so far all I have seen is a guy who remains in the race so he can continue kicking around the guy who dropped out for the good of the party.

Hey all, I’ve been gone to a conference the past two days so I missed the Chesapeake primaries and their aftermath.

But after Huck lost all three primaries on Tuesday, the delegate count is presenting a, well, rather difficult reality to him: it is now mathematically impossible for Mike Huckabee to win the GOP nomination. He would need, according to math done by the McCain camp, anyway, 123% of the remaining delegates to win this thing.

I know the man supposedly majors in miracles and all, but honestly…

An interesting perspective of the Gipper and his failed 1976 run for the nomination.

When we think of Reagan, we think so immediately of his presidency that we tend to forget what came before. What came before 1980 was 1976–and Reagan’s insurgent presidential bid against the incumbent Republican President Jerry Ford. Ford was riding pretty high, he was the good man who followed Nixon after the disgrace of Watergate; but Ford was a moderate liberal Republican, and Reagan thought he was part of the problem, so he declared against him.
He ran hard. And by March 1976 he had lost five straight primaries in a row. He was in deep trouble–eleven of twelve former chairmen of the Republican National Committee called on him to get out of the race, the Republican Conference of Mayors told him to get out, on March 18 the Los Angeles Times told him to quit. The Reagan campaign was $2 to $3 million in debt, and they were forced to give up their campaign plane for a small leased jet, painted yellow, that they called “The Flying Banana.” On March 23, they were in Wisconsin, where Reagan was to address a bunch of duck hunters. Before the speech, Reagan and his aides gathered in his room at a dreary hotel to debate getting out of the race. The next day there would be another primary, in North Carolina, and they knew they’d lose. Most of the people in the room said, “It’s over, we have no money, no support, we lost five so far and tomorrow we lose six.”

John Sears, the head of the campaign, told the governor, “You know, one of your supporters down in Texas says he’ll lend us a hundred thousand dollars if you’ll rebroadcast that speech where you give Ford and Kissinger hell on defense.” The talk went back and forth. Marty Anderson, the wonderful longtime Reagan aide who told me this story, said he sat there thinking, ‘This is crazy, another hundred grand in debt….’

The talk went back and forth and then Reagan spoke. He said “Okay, we’ll do it. Get the hundred thousand, we’ll run the national defense speech.” He said, “I am taking this all the way to the convention at Kansas City, and I don’t care if I lose every damn primary along the way.” And poor Marty thought to himself, ‘Oh Lord, there are twenty-one….’

The next night at a speech, Marty was standing in the back and Frank Reynolds of ABC News came up all excited with a piece of paper in his hand that said 55-45. Marty thought, ‘Oh, we’re losing by ten.’ And Reynolds said, “You’re winning by ten!” Reagan was told, but he wouldn’t react or celebrate until he was back on the plane and the pilot got the latest results. Then, with half the vote in and a solid lead, he finally acknowledged victory in North Carolina with a plastic glass of champagne and a bowl of ice cream.

Ronald Reagan, twenty-four hours before, had been no-money-no-support-gonna-lose-dead–but he made the decision he would not quit, and at the end he came within a whisker of taking the nomination from Ford…..

I know that the math is not there for a delegate nomination, so please don’t flame me for this posting. I just find striking similarities to Reagan’s run in 1976 and to Huckabee’s run in 2008. Reagan was ridiculed, belittled and dismissed by the party establishment for years before he was nominated. I feel that Mike is on the same trajectory. Several authors have noticed this and posted their thoughts on the same topic. Point in case is this one titled “Huckabee Confounds Elites As Reagan Did” and this one “Huckabee presents the best choice for Reagan supporters“.

I posted this on Race42008 back in January where the Nashua Telegraph strongly condemned Reagan and his practices as Governor of California. It sounds like a Club for Growth hit piece on Huckabee even today.

This nomination season is drawing to a close. If anything we can learn from the primaries so far it is that the people of America are asking for a change. Even Mitt picked this up after Obama swept Iowa and he started to carry the change banner himself. Some people feel that Huckabee embodies that change on some level. In my opinion, McCain does not represent change. With his 20 plus years in Washington, the majority of America sees this as well. I strongly feel that if McCain is the nominee then we will lose by wide margins to Obama. McCain has never performed well in a debate and his presence is constantly described as vindicative and manipulative. If we do not bring a conservative to the table then we are headed for 1996 all over again. McCain = Dole. This video (originally intended to hammer Giuliani) is still appropriate for McCain today.

I hope neither Romney nor Huckabee goes for veep if McCain secures the nomination. It is my opinion that the veep will have a death-nail in their political coffin after this election. (On both sides of the aisle)

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Romney and would hate for him to kill his political aspirations because of his desire to be on the ticket this time around. He has a great future in politics ahead of him based on his positioning. I have a good feeling that Huckabee has already ruled out the veep slot. I hope he rejects it out of hand if it comes up.

Maybe now with this season being almost over, we can get on to more important issues.

Can McCain win against Obama? Maybe. I know that head-to-head matchups are fairly meaningless this far out with history to prove that point, but I fear he cannot rally the electorate like the RockStar. I will vote for the eventual Republican nominee, but I don’t think that it will matter if that nominee is John McCain. If the GOP loses in November it will be a sad day for millions all around the world that look to America for leadership and protection, not counting the social and fiscal impact here in the states. My hope is that in 2010 we can take back congress and then in 2012 be in a position to take back the White House.

Thank you to Race42008 for letting me blog and share my thoughts and concerns throughout this election season. I still support Mike Huckabee, but his path to the nomination is almost zero at this point. We at Huck’s Army will continue to fight for Faith, Family, and Freedom and help shape this party in the future.

I think I might change my name on blogs from here on out to ThatGrumpyConservativeGuy. Seriously, I am not a fan of Governor Huckabee, but have almost found myself having to defend him on a couple of comments. I think he has a right to stay in, just like Ron Paul has a right to stay in.

At the same time, I don’t see what good comes from him actually staying in, but for those calling for him to drop out, Governor Huckabee updated his blog tonight…

and it seems like he’s not going anywhere. From Governor Huckabee, himself, at 10:42 pm:

The first question I am often asked these days is: “Why are you still running for President?”

It is because I believe that I am the best candidate to represent you in the fall against the Democrats. Why? Because I have core conservative beliefs that I have never wavered from:

I believe in the Human Life Amendment and I will fight for it from Day 1 of my Presidency.

I believe in the Marriage Amendment.

I believe in massive tax reform and am an advocate of the FairTax.

I believe that President Bush’s tax cuts should be made permanent.

I believe in the Surge, our troops and General Petraeus.

I believe the 2nd amendment is one of the best ways to protect us from tyranny and I will work tirelessly to protect it from activist judges.

I believe in real border security and have proposed a detailed 9 point plan to secure our borders.

I believe the best judge is a conservative judge that won’t legislate from the bench.

These are some of the reasons why I am running for President and let me also say that YOU are another reason. I am running to give you a voice in the process. To lift up your voice with mine and to tell our Party and our government that we need to do better. We need to think big and fight for our ideas.

There’s lots of voting left to be done before our Republican Party’s nominee is decided.

Disclaimer: I do not support Huckabee, so don’t flame me for posting this, because I’m just reporting, not defending his position

A nice preview of tonight’s results out of God’s country.

From CNN’s Political Ticker:

Huckabee press pool runs out of gas
Posted: 12:13 PM ET

DULLES TOLL ROAD, Virginia (CNN) – Thirteen miles from Dulles International Airport, the Huckabee press van carrying reporters from Washington D.C. to the airport for a flight to Little Rock, Arkansas ground to a halt on the side of the highway, out of gas.

The driver turned the key over and over, desperately hoping that the gas needle firmly set on ‘E’ was wrong. The staffer in charge of wrangling the press called ahead to let the campaign know what had happened, as the press in the back of the van pondered whether there were any metaphorical implications.

Huckabee’s bodyman Drake Jarman appeared at the window - he’s seen us in distress, and pulled over in another van carrying more reporters coming from elsewhere in Washington. After dubbing himself a “knight in shining armor,” reporters quickly squeezed into the rescue van and were whisked to the airport.

As we sit on the plane, the traveling press is assured our bags had been salvaged from the side of the road and loaded on. We’ll find out in a few hours.

With the ballots tallied, the result remains the same:

The Washington state Republican Party released additional results late Monday from last weekend’s presidential caucuses, and declared Arizona Sen. John McCain the winner once again.

“It’s clear to me that Sen. McCain was the winner of the precinct caucuses,” state party Chairman Luke Esser said in a conference call with reporters late Monday night. “Now let me clarify about that that the precinct caucuses are the first step of a three-step process and it’s not clear at all yet how many Washington State delegates he’ll end up with.”

County and state conventions are the next step.

Of Washington’s 40 delegates to the Sept. 1-4 GOP national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, 37 are elected: 18 through the caucus and convention process and 19 selected through the Feb. 19 presidential primary. Three are automatic: the state chairman, the national committeewoman and the national committeeman.

With 96 percent of weekend results in, Esser said McCain had 3,191 precinct delegates (25.6 percent) to Mike Huckabee’s 2,898 (23.3 percent) - a difference of just 293.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul won 21 percent of Washington’s precinct delegates, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who dropped out of the race this past week, got 15 percent, according to the latest numbers from the GOP.

As has been stated before, since the results of the caucuses have no impact on delegate allocation, this controversy has really been much ado about nothing.

AOL has posted an interesting online poll that 35,000 have responded too. Looking at the map you can see the pockets of Huck-a-resistance. Interesting that Utah, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire are the largest pockets of Anti-Huck sentiment. Arizona and New Jersey are pretty much tied up leaning to Huckabee to drop out.

Updated - now 54,000 people have voted - the map is getting more clear - Only Mitt strongholds and very blue states feel Mike should drop out.

KHOU Channel 11 here in Houston interviewed me on Friday before the Kansas and Louisiana victories. They ended up with a fairly nice piece that I am proud to say I was a part of. Huckabee’s support in Texas is rising quickly. I expect a great showing in the Lone Star State.