Huckabee won the first state of this Super Tuesday. West Virginia gave its 18 delegates to him.**
He upset heavily favored Romney to do so, and that may be a harbinger of things to come later tonight.
Romney, and his supporters have everywhere trumpeted the notion that a vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain. Someone recently claimed this on one of my old posts. But that is not the truth.
Huckabee is not splitting the conservative vote between himself and Romney. The facts, from polling data, are that a majority of Huckabee supporters would actually go with McCain over Romney. I’d probably find myself in that category, even though I have serious reservations with McCain.
Plus Huckabee is only getting 24% of the Republicans who attend church regularly — only 1 point better than Romney. And both of them are getting a smaller support than McCain. [For proof see this post citing recent USA/Gallop polling numbers.]
So a vote for Huckabee is really a vote for Huckabee. It actually helps prevent a landslide McCain victory. That may not be preventable after today, we shall see. But today, you’ve got to get out and vote for Huckabee!
**Note while McCain’s supporters helped in Huckabee’s WV win, the rules of WV’s convention required a majority support for 1 candidate. It’s just simple politics, that’s all. No backhanded deal between Huckabee and McCain, like Romney’s insinuating.
A vote for Governor Huckabee is a vote for Governor Huckabee but he is not the primary beneficiary of those votes. West Virginia demonstrates that Senator McCain knows a vote for Governor Huckabee ultimately benefits the Senator more than the Governor. Governor Huckabee is not splitting the economic and security conservatives, he is splitting the populist social conservative vote.
I’m holding out hope for this scenario: Huckabee does better on Super Tuesday than Romney. Conservatives rally around Huckabee due to their distrust of McCain.
Doesn’t the whole McCain Mass defection in WV actually send a message to all of the southern states that a vote for McCain is a vote for Romney?
Seems to me that it is pretty undeniable, especially in the states where Romney is running strong.
Exactly. What would be wonderful, for Huckabee supporters like me is for Huck to edge out Romney in the southern states, and for McCain to edge out Romney in California and NY. That would vault Huckabee ahead of Romney, and leave the race still in enough flux to help Huckabee pull off an improbable win.
I’m voting for Huck because of his ideas on the fair tax. The Fair Tax is such a great system. It makes so much sense for America at this point in our history; increasing productivity, encouraging moving up in the income brackets, and making taxes simpler for all. I found a great petition telling Congress to look into the fair tax, and, as we gain more signatures, money is donated to the fair tax cause.
http://www.petitionearth.com/viewpetition.php?id=64
We need to tell America to make this important change. We need to speak out!
I completely agree with your basic point … vote for who you want for, without any concern for the political ramifications. Me … I voted for Ron Paul, and you know what … I feel really good about it, even though he didn’t carry my state.
Even in the general election, I don’t buy the “a vote for a 3rd party is a vote for Hillary/Obama” argument. I don’t plan on voting for a Republican or Democrat in November. To be honest, I couldn’t stomach it. I don’t want to insult anyone’s candidate, but given the nature of the country right now, you’re basically just voting for the candidate who will grow the government slower.