News Flash–Huckabee is still in the race
Well, by now, we are all familiar with the tune that has been sung by Mitt Romney and the radio talk show hosts, such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. In their way of thinking, Mike Huckabee should have pulled out of the race after Florida and made room for Romney. Their main train of thought was that the supporters of Huckabee would migrate to Romney. A lot of those supporters signed a press release saying we would never vote for Mitt Romney, even if he was the Republican nominee.
What has happened with Romney and Huckabee will be the talk of the talk shows and the cable news shows today, I am sure. Let me give you a heads up. The people have spoken and rejected the notion that Huckabee shouldn’t even be in the race. No matter what Hannity and Limbaugh are saying, Huckabee is in the race, all the way to the convention. I am not saying he will win the nomination, but he stands a much better chance at defeating McCain than Mitt Romney does.
After the results of Super Tuesday, it is clear, Mike Huckabee is in the race for the long haul. He swept the southern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee and also won the West Virginia caucuses. He came very close in Missouri and in my home state of Oklahoma and from the results I have seen, had Mitt Romney not been in the race, he would have probably won those states as well. There very well may be more states where that is the case, but I haven’t had time to dig around in the full results. Having said all this, let me bring up another train of thought. Maybe Romney needs to drop out of the race and make room for Mike Huckabee. Not only will that allow conservatives to rally behind the former Arkansas Governor, but it might even save some of Romney’s fortune for his children.
I am not the only one who thinks Romney should pull out of the race. The Moderate Voice has this to say:
Conventinal wisdom says that Mike Huckabee has hurt Mitt Romney’s presidential bid. The notion is that Huck denies Romney the votes of true conservatives.
But tonight, MSNBC polling shows that among evangelical Protestants, a core constituent group among Republicans, the vote was roughly evenly split among Romney, Huckabee, and John McCain, each polling about 30%.
One clear conclusion of these results is that evangelicals, though conservative, cannot be regarded as a monlith.
And, more broadly, that means that it has been highly presumptuous for the Romney people to say that, were it not for Mike Huckabee’s bothersome candidacy, he would be the natural recipient of the votes of true conservatives.
The Huckabee campaign could, with credibility, argue that it is Romney who should make way for the former Arkansas governor. Unlike Romney, Huckabee has always been pro-life and always opposed to a constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman for life. Romney’s bona fides as a conservative are clearly questionable, at best.
But, in spite of his suggestion that the Constitution be amended to conform to the Bible, Huckabee’s votes in the Bible Belt, where frontrunner John McCain has not been as strong–except in South Carolina, estabishes him as the frontrunner to be John McCain’s vice presidential running mate.
After Super Tuesday, what I argued here, that the likeliest Republican ticket would be either McCain-Huckabee or Huckabee-McCain, seems even likelier.
What is clear is that, unless Romney pulls off a miracle in California tonight, Republicans who don’t like McCain will at least privately argue that the former Massachusetts governor should withdraw to make way for a conservative, Mike Huckabee.
I wouldn’t presume to tell Mitt Romney what he should or shouldn’t do, even though he has been telling Huckabee what he should or shouldn’t do. I would suggest he read the writing on the wall. He might learn a thing or two about Mike Huckabee and the amount of support he has. That might help his decision making a little easier.
That’s my take!
Larry
Romney has no penetration in the South. I’m not certain that a slick Northeastern governor would get the votes from a plain-talking Southern governor, even if said Southern governor were to withdraw.
If he can’t hold the South, I wonder exactly how Gov. Romney plans to win a general election.
Mike’s big opportunity to become the McCain alternative comes Saturday morning at CPAC.
I imagine he will knock it out of the park!