McCain-Huckabee?

By: Jennifer Foster | Opelika Auburn News
Published: May 13, 2008 | 0 Comments | Post a Comment

Mike Huckabee tops the list, Pethokoukis says, and that's according to "a top McCain fundraiser and longtime Republican moneyman who has spoken to McCain's inner circle."

That's a wordy way of saying, "an anonymous source." But hey! That's what blogs are for, right?!

(Except that the trend is also appearing in print and has become an ubiquitous crutch for reporters who don't bother to take the time to verify the information or get it from someone who will use his name!! But wait -- this is 2008, after all. Journalists can't be expected to live by those stuffy pre-Internet rumor rules in this modern age, right?!)

But I digress. Ahem. Anyway, Huckabee is rumored to be McCain's current top choice. It would be a good pick, Pethokoukis says, because:

1) He is a great campaigner and communicator who could both shore up support in the South among social conservatives ... and appeal to working-class voters ...

2) As any pollster knows, voters search for candidates who "care about people like me," and Huckabee would probably score a lot higher on that quality than millionaire investor Mitt Romney ...

3) Economic conservatives and supply-siders may balk, but the threat of four years of Obamanomics and higher investment, income, and corporate taxes might be enough to keep them on board.

But McCain-Huckabee isn't exactly the Dream Team. Need proof? Just read a few of the testy comments below Pethokoukis' post.

Just as there are folks who hope Obama falls flat in November so Hillary Clinton can run again, so are there Huckabee supporters hoping for a McCain loss -- or even a one-term McCain presidency -- so Huckabee can give it another go. Clinton vs. Huckabee ... imagine that general election campaign!

In other words, just as independents may be put off by the Moderate Maverick putting The Good Reverend on the ticket, Huckabee supporters -- conservatives and moderates alike -- believe that it would be bad news for Huckabee to hitch his wagon to McCain's star. Huckabee represented a new kind of Republicanism to many people who believed that the GOP's claims of "compassionate conservatism" rang hollow. (The Dallas Morning News gave voice to the argument in its editorial endorsement of Huckabee on the eve of the Texas primary in March. Give it a read if you have time.) For his supporters, Huckabee throwing in with McCain would be akin to Obama throwing in as Clinton's No. 2 after all his talk about a "new kind of politics."

The bottom line: McCain could make a better pick, one that would shore up the South without alienating independents. A Haley Barbour, for example.

But it's Huckabee, at least for now, Pethokoukis says -- another "top Republican political strategist" told him so a month ago.

Two anonymous sources???? It has to be true!