Huckabee's Chances and the Party's

~ fundyreformed

I was stunned by Romney’s withdrawal from the race. Pleasantly surprised but stunned nonetheless.

But rather than Huckabee’s chances improving, it seems that the pundits and media are ready to declare McCain the winner. Romney didn’t want to prolong the primary stage of the campaign, and it is feared that Huckabee would just be slowing things down, too.

But did anyone else notice that the Dems are still in a 2-manperson race? And it doesn’t look like either of them are backing off soon.

With Romney in the race, I admit the rhetoric seemed quite high. And the conservative purists or the metropolitan conservatives, or whatever else you want to call the conservative talk show and pundit entrenchment, were all about preserving their last truly conservative guy. But now with Romney gone, Huckabee and McCain can legitimately fight to win the race. And it doesn’t have to be a messy spectacle. Rush Limbaugh has bemoaned both candidates so having them both in the race doesn’t really change much.

Maybe people just want this over. But think about it, if by early March, Huckabee is on an incredible Huckasurge, and the conservatives are beginning to realize he is capable of winning the nomination from McCain, then you’d think another month would seal the deal. Likely the Dems wouldn’t have sealed it on their side any sooner. And more realistically, come March, Huckabee will bow out against impossible odds. Lets give Huck a chance and not call the race too early, now.

As for his chances, Wickle gives an educated guess. It’s a long shot, but it’s still possible. Especially if voter-based realities start to break more toward Huckabee, now that the choices are fewer. Plus, evangelicals now have James Dobson’s endorsement of Huckabee to consider, as well as other reasons for backing Huckabee. It’s a good bet that should they throw their united support behind him, Huckabee would emerge as a very strong alternative to McCain yet!

As for the party, Joe Carter gives some helpful thoughts on how to “save” conservatism. And to him, as with me, the Party doesn’t come first, conservatism does. I’d go one step further and say my commitment to Christ trumps conservatism. Still, I hope Joe’s wrong about McCain’s inevitability.

Anyway, this political cycle has been fun and interesting. And who knows, maybe Huckabee will prove to have some more magic up his sleeves!

12 thoughts on “Huckabee's Chances and the Party's”

  1. So far we have had 30 percent going to Huckabee, 30% going to Romney, 30% going to McCain and 10% or so going to Paul.

    I suspect that many in the Romney camp are social conservatives who are More likely to break to Huckabee than McCain. That leaves 50% for Huckabee, 40% for McCain and 10 % for Paul.

    Unfortunately most states hand out delegates proportionately, so wining battles 5/4 are not going to Make a lot of progress on a 400+ delegate lead.

    Still, Huckabee doesn’t really hurt McCain. He is a nice guy. He doesn’t make up lies about his opponents to tear them down. The whole thing reminds me of a Nascar race. Romney isn’t a nice guy, and his strategy has been to try to drive his opponents into the wall.. Huckabee has been drafting with the leader, and waiting patiently for a time to make a move.

    We are in the final laps, and it looks like McCain has got the thing wrapped up. Huckabee should stay on the track, just in case something happens. In politics usually something does happen. Especially to the guy in front. With Romney in the garage, Huckabee is poised to take over as leader in case of disaster.

  2. At this point, it’s a near impossibility for Huckabee to win outright. But he doesn’t strike me as one who will throw in the towel early.

    Going along with Josh’s Nascar analogy, do you think after the race, Huckabee will follow McCain to the winner’s circle as his VP? He seems to have left that door open.

  3. I consider myself a social conservative and a Romney supporter. I won’t be drawn to Huckabee or McCain…they are both scoundrels in my book. Perhaps for the first time ever, I’ll have to break with tradition and vote for a Democrat. If McCain and Huckabee are the best the GOP can produce, then they’ve already lost this race.

  4. I’m still supporting Huckabee until the convention…

    If McCain does get the nomination, then I’m still in it for the GOP, though not 100% satisfied.

    According to the following voter guide, Mr. Romney isn’t as conservative as some like to think:
    http://wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=5386

    Now is not the time to give up and throw our votes away on some Socialist Democrat because we didn’t get our way in the Primary!!!

  5. It’s still too early to make a call regarding Huck’s viability in this race. There are six states having primaries in the near future, and we should see if there is a large proportion of voters who would have voted for Romney now move toward Huckabee. It might not be over, and if Huck is able to pick up about 400+ delegates, he will end up frustrating the McCain campaign.

    Huck as VP under McCain? I am not really sure on that one. I still would not vote for McCain even if he chose a conservative VP, with either Huck or anyone else.

    I think that Romney bowed out so that he could consolidate his base for 2012 in the event that a Democrat would win the White House later this year. If I were Romney, I am thinking that in four years the nation will be ready for a moderately conservative Republican after four years of Democrat leadership (both Hillary and Obama would be so distasteful to the electorate by 2012) and Romney would be facing a possible Republican congress, perhaps voted in by 2010 to counter a reckless Democratic administration. This is a good long-term move if this comes about.

  6. The only problem with that, Larry, is the Supreme Court. Permanent damage could be done to conservative causes if the wrong judges get put in.

    It’s sad that we have to talk like this, given the Constitution and all, but the fact is judges rule the day.

  7. Bob,

    That’s the only issue for me (Supreme Court judges) if I were to vote for McCain, and I have considered this despite my belief that McCain is temperamentally unfit for the presidency, let alone McCain’s quirkiness on conservative issues. There is a lot of angst among conservatives if McCain does end up being the Republican nominee. Also, it’s possible that Ron Paul could become a third-party candidate and that will draw about five percent of votes that normally would go to the Republican candidate. I would never consider voting ‘for’ a Democratic candidate, and would never vote for someone because I didn’t like the other.

    But, think about this…. President Mike Huckabee? I’d be sooooo much comfortable with that!

  8. Yea, that does sound nice.

    On a side note, I do think a third or fourth party would be great for this country, if we could get them viable enough. Requiring a majority, the leading party would have to make deals and concessions with one of the other parties.

    Unfortunately, for now we’re stuck with a 2 party system.

    However, that does keep us kind of stuck in the center, which is far to the right of other countries in say, Europe. So that’s good.

  10. Sorry, Rhett. Somehow your comments ended up in my spam bin. I found them and restored them, although I deleted one that was just a duplicate.

    I saw a copy of that voter guide. Not sure entirely on its accuracy, but I agree that overall, Romney is not as conservative as he and everyone else wants you to believe.

    Thanks for sharing, and welcome to WordPress!

  12. It’s Sunday morning, and it appears that Huckbee won Kansas handily, won Louisiana in a squeaker (and the delegates in that state are officially ‘uncommitted’), and in Washington state Huckabee is only two points behind McCain– in a liberal state! It ain’t over until the fat lady sings!

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