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Should Mitt Romney Make Way for Mike Huckabee?
Feb 5th, 2008 | 11 responses
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 favored 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.
[This is being cross-posted on my personal blog.]
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11 Responses to “Should Mitt Romney Make Way for Mike Huckabee?”
What makes the primary victories by Huckabee and McCain more remarkable is that they were able to achieve them without the superior advantages Romney has in funding and organization. I believe that Romney is not striking a chord with Republican voters because he is not perceived as holding genuine convictions.
kritt: Precisely. One of the key words of this election season is AUTHENTICITY. McCain and Huckabee, irrespective of how people feel about them or their views, are perceived as authentic. Romney is not.
Authenticity is also valued by those who have supported Obama on the Democratic side.
Mark
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[...] Vradic wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptConventinal 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, … [...]
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I do agree with your Huckabee – Romney argument. However the notion of a McCain/Huckabee or Huckabee/McCain ticket is just silly. The general election will be won by the candidate who draws the independent vote. Independent voters will not support Huckabee and if McCain were to be the nominee he would be foolish to chose Huckabee as his running mate. You heard it here.
Huckabee is the only one who could beat Hillary or Obama. It would be a good choice for the country if Romney and Paul got out of the way and endorsed Huck.
The most important part of Huckabee's victories is that they show that the Establishment can be beat.
The Constitution is very explicit on the fact that the Government is supposed to be our servant and not the other way around.
Big money has controlled our country for too too too long………..
It is time to change that and Huckabee victories are showing the way
I totally agree with you!!!
One discrepancy though is this:
“Huckabee… always opposed to a constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman for life”
It is the opposite, he has always been FOR a traditional marriage amendment.
Ken
I would not be surprised if McCain picked Lieberman, who's been following him around the campaign trail like a lovesick puppy. Lieberman is no longer a Democrat but could attract the moderates and independents that McCain needs to win. They are simpatico on foreign policy and McCain knows that Conservatives will tolerate Lieberman because he's snubbed the Democrats on Iraq.
Zell Miller was fantastic just a few years ago…