Huckabee planning to run again in a few years

 

By Perry Bacon Jr.

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 6, 2008; Page A09

Advisers to Mike Huckabee spent yesterday starting to build a conservative coalition that could propel a future run for the White House, hoping to capitalize on the popularity he gained during his unlikely presidential bid.

Using as a model Ronald Reagan‘s time between his failed run in 1976 and his success in 1980, the former Arkansas governor plans to help Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Republican congressional candidates win over conservative Christians in the fall, while looking for a national radio show or other forum that he can use to expand his influence within the party.

And though Huckabee has said that he doubts McCain would offer him the vice presidential slot on the Republican ticket, he has not denied interest in the job. The head of his campaign’s faith-and-values coalition, conservative radio talk show host Janet Folger, said she is broadcasting the phone number of McCain’s campaign office so callers can demand that Huckabee be placed on the ticket. Folger said McCain “needs” to pick Huckabee to ensure that conservative Christians will turn out in November.

Huckabee spent yesterday thanking his supporters, as well as taking a congratulatory call for his performance from President Bush, who officially endorsed McCain yesterday.

Well, it has been nice

Well, it has been good experience blogging here at WAforMike.  You, our visitors, have been great.  The turnout to this blog has been amazing, with thousands of visitors since this blog was started exactly 2 months ago, the 4th of January, just hours after Huckabee won Iowa.  We had great hopes that a great, conservative, Christian canidate would win the nomination and bring true change to America.  Not empty hopes such as the kind Senator Obama offers, but TRUE, solid hopes for change.  Sadly, this has not happened.  With 64% of the results in from Texas, Governer Mike Huckabee has lost to Senator John McCain.  We here at WAforMike commend Mike Huckabee for a well run campaign.  We will throw our weight behind Senator McCain’s campaign now, and recommend that you do so also.  Remember, Senator McCain may be more liberal than some of us like, however, he is still much better than either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton.

We are now blogging a new website, www.trueobamafacts.com, and encourage you to visit the site, and pass out the link to everyone you come in contact with.

Thanks, and God bless you all!

The Bloggers at WAforMike

What about me? – video

Glenn to back Huckabee at GOP convention

Midland Daily News

Midlander Gary Glenn plans to attend the Republican National Convention as one of two at-large Michigan alternates supporting former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for president.

    The convention Sept. 1-4 will be at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown Saint Paul, Minn.

    It will be Glenn’s second GOP national convention.

    He was an alternate supporting George H.W. Bush at the 1988 convention at New Orleans’ Super Dome. Glenn’s wife, Annette, was an alternate supporting Ronald Reagan at the 1984 GOP national convention in Dallas.

     In an e-mail message, Gary Glenn wrote that if Sen. John McCain hasn’t wrapped up the presidential nomination before the convention:

    * more than eight Michigan delegates might not vote for McCain and

    * Huckabee supporters are confident that a convention dominated by social conservatives will eventually turn to Huckabee. In part, that’s because he’s “the only candidate who has always supported both a Human Life Amendment and a Marriage Protection Amendment,” Glenn wrote.

    Also, Huckabee believes protecting people’s First Amendment rights of free speech is more important than McCain’s campaign finance legislation “that violates those rights to protect incumbent politicians from accountability,” Glenn wrote.

    Huckabee’s continuing campaign “ensures that more socially conservative delegates will continue to be elected” in states which haven’t yet voted, Glenn added. Those additional delegates “will strengthen our ability to protect and preserve principles in the Republican platform which Sen. McCain does not support, such as constitutionally protecting both prenatal life and one-man, one-woman marriage,” Glenn continued.

    Glenn has been president of the American Family Association of Michigan since October 1999.

    In the Michigan Republican primary election Jan. 15,  Huckabee’s statewide vote earned him two at-large delegates. They are newly elected Republican National Committeeman Keith Butler of Southfield and Bill Voorheis of Clio.

    Chosen recently as GOP national convention delegates from the Fourth Congressional District, of which Midland County is a part, were Kim Emmons of Clare County, Carolyn Curtin of Evart and state Sen. Jason Allen of Traverse City. Curtin is a State Board of Education member and chairperson of a Fourth District Republicans’ organization. That GOP group annually raises money at events in Clare and Mount Pleasant to support Republican candidates.

    The three national convention alternates recently elected by Fourth District Republican activists are Wilma McQueen of Leelanaw County, former Saginaw County Republican Chairman Ken Shapley and Gerald Wall of Roscommon County.

    The district — represented in the U.S. House by Midland Republican Dave Camp — includes part of both Saginaw and Shiawassee counties and all of 12 other counties.

Is Mike Huckabee Another Lincoln?

Found this article at: http://opinionatedcatholic.blogspot.com/2008/02/is-mike-huckabee-another-lincoln.html

There appears to be a ton of talk again how Huckabee needs to withdraw. I have had the contrary position that Mike staying in the race is good for the party and yes even good for McCain if the gets the nod. It appears that this blogger appears to agree with me and has similar reasons. Let me add another reason.

I am very concerned about some extreme elements trying to go third party. We see that here at the sad and misguided site. The longer that Huckabee is in the race the longer this stuff loses steam. Especially because if Mike does not get the nomination he will bring the social conservatives over to McCain. Again see the above bloggers link I posted Mike Huckabee’s Campaign is Good for the Republican Party.

Now I do believe in miracle. Have no doubt though that Mike Huckabee believes in math. As a Governor that had to submit balanced budgets and didn’t have access to the Money making machine of the Engraving department Mike knows all to well about Math.

However I do know the brokered convention theory and then Mike getting the nomination is a long shot to say the least. However in honor of Presidents’ day I saw something that that perked my interest. That is a post from the Another Man’s Meat and his post Mathematics and Miracles . He brings up some interesting history that is significant and interesting:

Governor Huckabee has also been accused of splitting Republican conservatives, thus enhancing the chances for a Democratic victory in the general election. Well, I don’t believe it, nor does history seem to validate that point of view

.I spent some time this morning re-reading chapter seven, titled “The Revolution of 1860,” of Jim McPherson’s The Battle Cry of Freedom. The chapter is all about the political upheaval taking place in America in 1860. It seems that one man, Abraham Lincoln, much like Mike Huckabee today, wasn’t nearly as interested in electoral mathematics back then as he was in miracles.

The Illinois rail-splitter, and friend of the common man, knew he faced a daunting task. He well understood that William Seward had come to Chicago as the presumptive nominee of the Party. But Lincoln, who once said, “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing,” pressed the issue of the nomination to the convention floor. History has recorded the outcome of that convention. Lincoln won, the Union was preserved, and slavery was abolished.

Many scholars now believe that Lincoln, in addition to being our greatest political poet, was our greatest President. Thank God that we don’t have to concern ourselves today with a different history, one that might have been written had Lincoln given in to the mathematics he faced.Some quotes from McPherson follow for your edification and enlightenment.

I believe they demonstrate that, while some make assumptions, a few chart their courses to the stars, swim against the collective tide of the naysayers, and then go on to make history:

“Coming into the convention with a large lead based on strength in upper-North states, Seward hoped for a first-ballot nomination. But Republicans were sure to win those states no matter whom they nominated.”“This left Lincoln. By the time the convention’s opening gavel came down on May 16, Lincoln had emerged from a position as the darkest of horses to that of Seward’s main rival.”“Yet so obscure was Lincoln in certain circles before his nomination that some pundits had not included his name on their lists of seven or a dozen or even twenty-one potential candidates. Several newspapers spelled his first name Abram.”

“The first ballot revealed Seward’s weakness and Lincoln’s surprising strength. With 233 votes needed to nominate, Seward fell sixty short at 173 ½ while Lincoln polled 102.”“From then on, Lincoln the rail-splitter became the symbol of the frontier, farm, opportunity, hard work, rags to riches, and other components of the American dream embodied in the Republican self-image.”

“None of the forty thousand people in and around the wigwam ever forgot that moment. All except the diehard Seward delegates were convinced they had selected the strongest candidate.”

We now have the hindsight of history, so we know that Abraham Lincoln was the right candidate for the right time. Some day, when this generation is pushing up the daisies, the history of the 2008 campaign will be written. It may be about John McCain, Barack Obama, or Hillary Clinton. And, improbable as it may seem now, it may be about a preacher from a small Arkansas town who was too stubborn to give in to the cackling voices around him calling for his surrender.

So who knows. Regardless I shall as See on my sidebar SUPPORT THE ELEPHANT no matter who it is. Especially in this election when it is so important to do so on my levels.

Sen. McCain’s Lead In Texas Small

Two new polls in Texas from ARG and POS show a 6 and 4 point lead for Senator McCain in Texas.

As Gov. Huckabee said in his email yesterday, Texas is the place to fight for the nomination.  These leads are small considering the attention the media has been heaping on Senator McCain as the “frontrunner.”

Here are a couple of red states we might mention, where Senator McCain had a similar lead:

Georgia won by Gov. Huckabee

Tennessee won by Gov. Huckabee

Alabama won by Gov. Huckabee

Louisiana won by Gov. Huckabee

Kansas won by Gov. Huckabee

How did we win?  We never gave up.  We made calls, we emailed friends and family, we waved signs, we handed out literature, we ran television ads (thanks to your generosity) and we won.

 GO MIKE GO!!!!!  Spread the Word!!!

Despite Impossible Odds, Huckabee Supporters Still Plan To Vote For Him

From CBS News’ Joy Lin:

It is not impossible for Mike to win, check out https://waformike.wordpress.com/2008/02/11/can-huckabee-win-the-gop-nomination/.

PEWAUKEE, WISC. — Most didn’t care; others, resolutely defiant. When told that Mike Huckabee didn’t have much of a shot at winning the nomination, supporters said they were voting for him anyway.

“If God wants him in, he’ll win,” said Lissa Eske, of Oconomowoc. “And even if he can’t, I’ll vote for what’s right.” She had driven 20 minutes to see him. A caregiver at a nursing home, Eske said she was “concerned” about McCain’s “liberal leanings” and that he was “overly focused on the war.” More importantly, she liked Huckabee and trusted him. When she casts her vote next week, Eske said it was a vote for Huckabee, not against McCain.

To the vibrant crowd of more than 500 people, Huckabee said, “People ask me, why am I staying in this race? Well, first of all, I got in it to win and I’m staying in it to win.” The audience cheered. “If nobody gets 1,191 delegates before the convention, then we’ll settle it at the convention like it used to be done in the old days and I’ll take my chances there like anybody else.”

Kent Moore, of Waukesha, has been following Huckabee for a while now. He wants Huckabee to stay in the race, protesting the notion McCain would win the nomination without having a contest of ideas. He said he would vote for Huckabee as a way to keep “McCain going to the right” and not “off the reservation.”

It was an argument Huckabee acknowledged in his speech.

“In many ways, the discussion over the next several weeks is not just about the next election, it is about the next generation,” he said. “It’s not just about the politics of the Republican party, it’s about the principles of the Republican party. It’s not just about winning and losing an election, it’s about winning and losing a culture. It’s about whether or not we will stand for something or whether we will fall for anything just so that we can beat the other guys.”

He continued, “Ladies and gentlemen, if it doesn’t matter anymore what we believe, then most of us probably wouldn’t have gotten involved in politics anyway. Because most of us didn’t get involved because of the game of it. We got involved because of the goal of it – which is to preserve, protect, and pass on a culture and a country for our kids.”

What surprised Kelly Smith, a journalist living outside a town named Heartland, was the age range and makeup of the audience. He noted people in the crowd were in their late 30s and early 40s, bringing entire families of toddlers and pre-teens to the event. He also noted that, in an area with a sizeable evangelical community, it was surprising to him that “not a single Republican official had showed up.”

Perhaps, Smith speculated, it was an indication that young families were seeking a new kind of leadership. With a vibrant talk radio environment in Wisconsin, where many conservative talk show hosts “hate McCain Feingold,” he said it’s hard to come to conclusions about who would win next week given the state’s fierce independence.

“Wisconsin is kind of like Iowa,” said Smith. “It’s a state of mind.”

Virginia race won by McCain

http://news.aol.com/elections/primary/state/va/republicans

UPDATE: 8:00PM – PST

Huckabee lost by about 9% with 98% counted.   We would have liked to win, but it is not that bad in a state where he was supposed to loose by 30%! 

UPDATE:  6:30PM – PST

Huckabee is now tied with McCain at 46%!    36% counted.

— 

The Live Ticker at News.AOL.com has McCain at 47% and…. Huckabee at 45% with only 33% of the votes counted!  Huckabee was supposed to loose by double digits, and most polls had him loosing by 30%!

Check back for more later.

Virginia exit polls results…

Nearly seven in 10 voters in Virginia’s Republican primary called themselves conservatives. Mike Huckabee won half of their votes, including two-thirds of those who called themselves “very conservative.” Four in 10 Virginia Republican voters were born-again evangelical Christians, and they strongly supported Huckabee over John McCain. Huckabee won the votes of two-thirds of those who said they were looking for a candidate who shared their values. McCain won the votes of two-thirds of moderates and almost half of those who called themselves “somewhat conservative.”

Voters who said they listened to conservative talk radio were more likely to vote for Huckabee, while non-listeners tended to support McCain. The more often people listened to conservative talk radio, the less likely they were to vote for McCain.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/5536143

Welcome Back – Video

DBZWarriors has created this continuation of his other video “Cinderella Man”.  This race is far from being over.