Posted by
Dwayne Horner on Thursday, February 07, 2008 2:23:48 PM
We're down to the final four, Hillary and Barack on the Democrat's side and McCain and Huckabee on the Republican side. What happens next?
At this point, for Huckabee, it's not about delegates...it's about becoming the Vice President. Romney was gracious and spirited in his, for all practical purposes, concession speech at CPAC. This will garner a lot of support for him to be the VP...and this is why Huckabee stays in. The key to look for is, how does McCain react and does he now turn against Huckabee.
Coming up on the Republican this Saturday is the Washington, Kansas, Virginia, and Louisiana. Virginia is going to go to McCain because of the strong military presence and Washington is much more on the left than right. It's a theoretical possibility that Huckabee takes Louisiana and Kansas. At this point, again it's not about delegates when it comes to Huckabee...it's the race to become the VP. It's about what percentage of the vote he gets in these four states and the reaction he gets Sunday.
And what will conservative talk radio do? The two candidates they don't like are the two remaining candidates, do they say McCain is the lesser of two evils or Huckabee? This will be a key piece of the puzzle next week. Chip Saltsman was on FOX News post-Romney exit and he said they were still in it. Then again, Romney said the same thing Tuesday.
After that, there are two states likely to favor McCain in Maryland this coming Tuesday and Wisconsin a week later. Then there is a brief break before Ohio and Texas. This will be time all negotiations will start to take place. Huckabee can win Texas, but cannot win the nomination. Will Huckabee throw his support for McCain in Texas and use the convention as a way to "unify" behind the Maverick?