Tag: Super Tuesday

Huckabee's Great Night, and Mine

~ fundyreformed ~ 4 Comments

Huckabee’s Night

Mike Huckabee surprised a lot of people, including me. The polls showed him declining in the south, with either McCain or Romney taking those states from him. Instead he won Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and also West Virginia (full results here). He came within a few thousand votes of taking Missouri, and was a close second in Oklahoma.

Sadly, McCain won almost all the delegates in California, took all of Missouri’s winner-take-all count, and added other populous states to his delegate totals. Mathematically, it’s almost impossible for either Huckabee or Romney to win now [HT: Racefor2008]. Huckabee’s best chance is for the party to rally around him instead of Romney as the conservative alternative to McCain. And in truth, Huckabee is more viable than Romney at this point, with Romney’s failure to win in the south and Romney’s failure to win primaries.

I’m suspecting a McCain-Huckabee ticket will eventually emerge. That might be enough to rally all wings of the party around the nominatee. Regardless, Huckabee’s message is getting out and that’s a good thing. Servant leadership, the FAIR tax, standing up against corporate greed — these and other planks of his message are very important for the Republican establishment to hear. I hope the Republican party changes for the better as a result of this election cycle.

My Night

Now Huckabee had a great night, and I had an interesting one. I went to my first caucus and discovered firsthand how important one voice can be.

First of all, I saw firsthand how incredible the voter turnout was. At my caucusing center, we had 3 times the number they expected, and probably more. Still, my precinct and ward (St Paul, Precinct 3, ward 6) only had 5 people attending. I live in St. Paul, in a largely democratic area. At the caucusing center, though, there was at least 100-150 people.

A local Christian high school was volunteering, and had their students read off letters from the candidates. But when it came time for Huckabee’s letter, there wasn’t one. Apparently the other candidates had just emailed letters in, and Huckabee’s campaign didn’t. But because I was there, with the letter in my hand, I was able to read it in front of everyone in my half of the center (we had to split into 2 rooms).

It was rewarding to be able to ensure Huckabee’s message was heard, and I was excited to hear Huckabee do quite well in our room. There was no clear leader, but it seemed McCain and Huckabee did best, followed by Romney and Paul.

I am now one of the delegates going to our house district convention (HD66A), and I and my fellow delegate from my particular precinct/ward will both be casting votes for Huckabee.

I thought the caucus system was great, and it gives people an opportunity to be involved. I am now the chair for our small little precinct, and was able to get a resolution passed for our state party platform to consider needed judicial reform.

I had a fun night, even though it was my daughter’s 2nd birthday, and I rushed home after the caucus to finish the celebration with birthday cake. I encourage everyone to keep supporting Huckabee, and in the process to learn more about how to be involved in local politics. We have a right and responsibility to be involved. And one person can make a difference.

Don't Waver on Your Vote for Huckabee

~ fundyreformed ~ 6 Comments

Huckabee won the first state of this Super Tuesday. West Virginia gave its 18 delegates to him.**

He upset heavily favored Romney to do so, and that may be a harbinger of things to come later tonight.

Romney, and his supporters have everywhere trumpeted the notion that a vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain. Someone recently claimed this on one of my old posts. But that is not the truth.

Huckabee is not splitting the conservative vote between himself and Romney. The facts, from polling data, are that a majority of Huckabee supporters would actually go with McCain over Romney. I’d probably find myself in that category, even though I have serious reservations with McCain.

Plus Huckabee is only getting 24% of the Republicans who attend church regularly — only 1 point better than Romney. And both of them are getting a smaller support than McCain. [For proof see this post citing recent USA/Gallop polling numbers.]

So a vote for Huckabee is really a vote for Huckabee. It actually helps prevent a landslide McCain victory. That may not be preventable after today, we shall see. But today, you’ve got to get out and vote for Huckabee!

**Note while McCain’s supporters helped in Huckabee’s WV win, the rules of WV’s convention required a majority support for 1 candidate. It’s just simple politics, that’s all. No backhanded deal between Huckabee and McCain, like Romney’s insinuating.

Don't Give Up on Huckabee!

~ fundyreformed ~ 5 Comments

McCain is not a foregone conclusion. And it certainly isn’t a 2 man race. While the polling numbers aren’t great for Huckabee, he’s quite close to Romney, statistically sharing the number 2 slot. He’s come from behind in the past, so don’t count him out.

Vote for the candidate with the best message, not the most pragmatic choice available. When its the general election, then we might have to settle for who the party has nominated, but let’s not back down now!

All Huckabee needs is the conservative base of the party to coalesce around him in the sourthern states up for grabs on Tuesday. He may need your vote!

With this in mind, read Kevin Tracy’s excellent post using California’s recent special gubernatorial race as an example of why we should not waver on supporting Huckabee as the race comes down to the wire.