From Meet the Depressed:
MR. RUSSERT: You need 1191 delegates; you have 231, as I mentioned. That means you need 960.GOV. HUCKABEE: Mm-hmm.
MR. RUSSERT: There are only 819 delegates to win. So how are you going to do that?
GOV. HUCKABEE: Well, you know, I don't know how the math works out, but there's always the chance something stumbles. The thing is it's not just how many I need, Senator McCain also needs that many. And if he doesn't get that many, he's not the nominee either. This thing could go to the convention. Who knows? But the one thing I know, when people say, "Isn't it a rather complicated and convoluted path to victory?" You bet it is. But it's a real easy path to defeat. All I have to do is walk off the field, game's over.
MR. RUSSERT: When will you walk off the field? If Senator McCain gets the 1191, will you quit?
GOV. HUCKABEE: Well, I think then it's over. I mean, he's--he is the nominee at that point. But until then, you know, I haven't had one of my supporters, Tim, come up to me and say, "Why don't you leave?" Not one. None of my endorsers, none of the folks who are with me. And, in fact, they're so fired up that we're having record hits and contributions going to our mikehuckabee.com Web site. We've had more traffic. We, we had a $250,000 day--we'd never had anything like that--on I think Friday.
It's clear that Huckabee believes he can somehow stage a fight at the convention that could hand him the nomination. He seems to be making the assumption that he could swing all of the non-McCain delegates over to his side after the first ballot where McCain fails to get the number needed. It's seems almost impossible to me that the Republican Party could nominate someone other than the candidate who has almost twice the number of delegates as anyone else even if he doesn't have the magic number.
But Huckabee supporters don't seem to care about any of this. They are true believers in their cause and are driven by a conviction that Huckabee is their man.
Fresh off his victories in Kansas and Louisiana, Huckabee is now exploring legal options to challenge the outcome in Washington state. He is throwing some rhetorical firebombs over the issue, even comparing the Washingon state Republican Party to the Soviet Union:
"That is not what we do in American elections," Huckabee said on CNN's American Morning Monday. "Maybe that's how they used to conduct it in the old Soviet Union, but you don't just throw people's votes out and say, 'well, we're not going to bother counting them because we kind of think we know where this was going.'
It is truly bizarre that the Washington state Republican Party has called the election for McCain with just 87% of the vote counted and only a 2% margin in McCain's favor. There are clearly enough outstanding votes to change the outcome. I haven't got the foggiest idea what they're thinking in Washington.
Update: Huckabee inches closer as they are now counting more votes in Washington:
McCain: 25%
Huckabee: 24%
Paul: 21%
Romney: 17%
Republican Party chairman Esser explains his flawless logic in declaring McCain the victor after 87% of the votes were tallied:
"Let's take every county where Huckabee is beating McCain, and double the margin of victory. And then take every county where McCain is winning and cut in half that margin of victory. Even if you assume that, Sen. McCain still holds on."
Duh....Huh?
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Filed under:
2008 Presidential Race
Tags: Huckabee, Republican presidential campaign, Washington state
Comments (5)
wow... you know i was part ... (Below threshold)1. Posted by ke_future | February 11, 2008 3:40 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
wow... you know i was part of the wash caucuses this past weekend. the meeting that i was a part of did not have any problems, and the guy running it was fair to every side, even the supporters of candidates who had already dropped out. i think that represented 25-30 different precincts.
from what i understand the whole problem is that with 87% of the delegate counts done, the state chairman said that mccain had won. well, guess what, the delegates to the national convention did not get decided this past saturday. all that got decided was who was going to the county/district caucuses.
if huck is playing penny ante games at the precinct level rather than trying to sway the delegates at the next level of caucuses, that shows 1) a poor understanding of the caucus system and 2) poor sportsmanship.
as the state chairman has said, bring out actual examples of problems. i haven't heard of any yet.
and if huck thinks he's going to be vp, he is sadly mistaken. i'm willing to bet that if push came to shove that romney would throw is support to mccain to keep huck off the ticket. romney's a business guy first, and huck's economic policies have got to have him worried, especially with mccain already admitting that he needs help on economic issues.
1. Posted by ke_future | February 11, 2008 3:40 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on February 11, 2008 15:40
2. Posted by Lee Ward | February 11, 2008 5:41 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I've always assumed that a fair part of the Republicans dislike for Huckabee came from his religious extremism and the perception by the non-Christianistas in the Republican party that Huck was un-electable because of that.
The nice thing about McCain chosing Romney (if he does) is that it gives the campaign a financial boost - we already know that Romney will spend as much of his fortune as is needed to get into the White House, and I suspect that isn't diminished as a VP candidate - especially with McCain's advanced age. Romney would be in a choice spot for the 2012 election if he got in as VP in 2008.
I watched Romney's withdrawal speech again over the weekend, and I was just amazed at how phony he was. He was reading the teleprompter without thinking about what he was saying - and reminded me of a Disneyland animatronic.
So he's the perfect Republican VP candidate!
2. Posted by Lee Ward | February 11, 2008 5:41 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on February 11, 2008 17:41
3. Posted by Alan Orfi | February 11, 2008 7:16 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Obviously, Mr. Potato Head did not consider the brokered convention scenario in his interview with Huckabee. While still a long shot, it is not implausible for him to win 57 percent of the remaining delegates and force the nomination to occur during the convention. In fact, he may win up to 75 percent of the remaining delegates as most future contests will occur in red states where McCain is reviled the most. If McCain falls 100 delegates short, he will have a rough time rallying support inside the convention.
Virginia is a really significant deal tomorrow. All polls indicate McCain is ahead by at least 25 percent, but Huckabee's folks are extremely energetic and are lighting up the phones like crazy. I think Virginia will be extremely close. If McCain does prevail as he should, that should knock the wind out of Huckabee's sails. However, another Huckabee upset win will get most people believing he may stop the coronation.
3. Posted by Alan Orfi | February 11, 2008 7:16 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on February 11, 2008 19:16
4. Posted by Steve Crickmore | February 12, 2008 8:35 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Partisan Bob Esser seems to have deliberately screwed the WA caucus delegate count up..From a 86 college editorial he wrote,
This whole site has good ammunition for Hucklebee that he was a victim of Esser's dirty tricks to give the 'straight talk' McCain the Republican ticket.
4. Posted by Steve Crickmore | February 12, 2008 8:35 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on February 12, 2008 08:35
5. Posted by bryanD | February 12, 2008 10:10 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Bob Esser's "political benefactor" is Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna. Rob McKenna is also McCain's state campaign chairman.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/178053.php
5. Posted by bryanD | February 12, 2008 10:10 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on February 12, 2008 10:10