Redstate

By BelisariusVII Posted in Archived — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Ok, he lost the nomination to McCain, but he got the second highest number of votes and delegates (yes, according to CNN, and Real Clear hasn't picked up on the additional number of delegates from Texas, LA, MI, and NV that put him past Romney). The man is still a highly attractive candidate, and well-suited to be VP. But rather than reinvent the wheel, this is a response to a generic VP blog post released yesterday, the response of which I posted.

"Okay, here I go. I am bucking the trend of others, but let me try to express Mike Huckabee's positives. I'll leave it to others to express his negatives, of which there is no lack of supply among economic conservatives on Red State. I will say, on the side, that Mike Huckabee's bona fides as a conservative has been underrated by his detractors, and continues to be so. Given the opportunity to work with a Congress that is NOT going to be 65-90% Democrat, as was the legislature in Arkansas, and therefore not controlled by the Clinton machine, and under the leadership of a President McCain, the result of a Vice-President Huckabee would be far more conservative, even on economic matters, than most of the Romney-supporting Club for Growth guys will imagine at this point.

"But I want to deal with the issue of the campaign first. As Toby on 'The West Wing' would always say, "You have to win the election first before you can change the world." We are going to have to win with 'the ground game,' a game that is now a digital one, thanks to the Internet. We are having our multiplied conversations in a function of what would be that 'ground game.' John McCain will need a running mate who will be able to successfully motivate one of the two major forces of Republican constituencies to actively 'man the barricades' in making sure the ground game works. McCain has one: veterans, military and veterans' families. Their commitment to stop the defeat-and-surrender Democrats, under either potential nominee, will be far more influential and important than the affect of the Swift Boat Veterans of 2004. And their involvement will be huge, after all, their concern over victory over radical Islam will be the one thing that will unite all Republican voters, and calming down the rush to follow Ann Coulter over the precipice of self-destruction in her decision to vote for Jezebel--ahem--Hillary.

"The other major source of activist involvement is that of the social conservatives, mostly Protestant evangelicals but including pro-life Roman Catholics. While Mike Huckabee will have to do some serious fence-mending with the economic conservatives who supported Romney, his commitment to victory and his communication skills (not to mention his determination to achieve political survival) will succeed in that endeavor, I believe.

"But the most important element selling Gov. Huckabee's bona fides as the strongest VP selection is the ability to mobilize a large evangelical vote in the South and rural states--a regional, even a societal, rather than merely a little-known governor/senator from a single state that McCain would carry anyway (or not). Take nothing away from the likes of Gov. Sanford (he would be my third choice, behind Mike and Gov. Jindal), and there are a lot of them, Gov. Huckabee comes with not only a committed and excited voter base, but one in states where Sen. McCain will need to be able to win handily WITHOUT having to spend money defending them against the Dems. He will need to devote every dime he can beg, borrow, or steal to fight over Ohio, PA, MI, MN, NM, WI, OR, WA,, IA, CO, FL, NH, even compete for CA and NJ. Mike can make that possible.

"No, I don't believe that the GOP is doomed with Mike Huckabee, rather, he is going to be a Godsend. Hasta luego.

"Yo saludo alegencia y por a la bandera de los Estados Unidos de America, y a la republica quiere levantese, un nacion para Dios, indivisible, con libertad y justicia para todos."

"Sangre, Tierra y Libertad!"

Well, that's it. I'm sure more to come. Hasta al pronto.

---The Old Alcalde---