What a wonderful surprise for Mike Huckabee to win 60% of the Kansas vote yesterday – and what a disheartening event for McCain. Mike also tied up Louisiana and may even pull out Washington after the votes are fully counted.
Having said that, I want to be straight with you – the chances of Mike winning the nomination in this race are nearly statistically impossible. He’d need to win over 85% of the roughly 1000 delegates left in play. It’s not going to happen. It’s also highly unlikely that McCain will choose him to be VP. McCain recently hinted that he’d want someone with a consistent political philosophy as him and he doesn’t feel that he needs to regionally balance the ticket (which is primarily what Mike would offer him). He might have been hinting at a Giuliani or Lieberman (not as much of a long-shot as some think) ticket, or perhaps he’ll please conservatives by picking a fiscal and social conservative. If Mike doesn’t get the VP nod, my hope is that Phil Graham or Jack Kemp get the nod. Even better, JC Watts would be stellar, but doesn’t seem interested in coming back to the political scene.
Having said that, we’re looking at the beginning, not the end, of Mike Huckabee’s role in natinal politics and these primary wins all but ensure he’ll play a bigger national role with the GOP in the future.
1 Comment
February 10, 2008 at 7:31 pm
It is not statistically impossible for Mike to win. He can easily force a brokered convention, and he could win outright if Romney’s delegates turn to vote for him. Many of them, including Romney’s Michigan delegates are now uncommitted and can vote for whomever they like.