Can Huckabee Win?

While most of us think that John McCain, the party leaders' choice to win the Republican Primary, is on his way to an easy win, conservatives in the Midwest and south said their man, Mike Huckabee, will nto be ignored. Of the three February 9th contests, the former Arkansas governor won two of them: the louisiana primaru and the Kansas caucus -- the latter by a landslide.

Huckabee is still far behind, yet can he motivate former Romney supporters to vote for him? He would have to virtually sweep the rest of the primary in a run similar to the 2007 Colorado Rockies' playoff push and still try to sway Romney delegates to go his way. It is possible and interesting, but not what party bosses want. Republicans are used to coronations during primary season. Their only hope is that Obama and Clinton hammer at each other enough to deplete their campaign warchests before the general election and both contests go down to the wire.

Although I still believe this will be a stroll for McCain either the honest way or the party manipulation way, I will still have the popcorn ready for this. Huckabee's support is sending a clear message to the party bosses: "Don't forget the conservative base." The recent tallies for Huckabee and Ron Paul combined also do not about to a fringe group: the Washington Caucuses were so close that McCain, the conventional frontrunner, was voted against by nearly 75% of those taking part. This is not just the extreme whacko vote, these are people who thought they signed on to a party that stood for smaller government and the strength of the middle class taxpayers.