I think not. It is apparent Huckabee will lose (don't hold me to it though, though I'm 95% sure Huckabee will lose). But maybe, just maybe,
Huckabee wins (which is good for Romney) and that bounces McCain off the bandwagon. But, it looks like a Mac win.
The following story is from the Wall Street Journal, the following is commentary on it from Vic Lundquist of electromneyin2008.com.
POTOMAC WATCH — By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL — Huckabee and the Values Vote — January 18, 2008; Page A12
I just love how Mike Huckabee keeps telling everyone on television he is going to win South Carolina tomorrow. I love it!
As John McCain has been struggling to appeal to a majority of the Republican base, Mike Huckabee has been struggling to appeal to non-evangelical
voters. In fact, Huckabee doesn’t even appeal to most evangelicals as evidenced in the Michigan primary this week. As frustrating as it must be for
a Baptist minister to not receive the vast majority of evangelicals’ votes, he has got to be equally frustrated by receiving almost none of the
non-evangelical votes.
In this Op/Ed pieced by Strassel, she is writing about South Carolina specifically:
Instead, recent polls here suggest that religious voters are proving to be more independent-minded. Mr. Huckabee has found himself having to scrap
with Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and even Mr. McCain for the 50% to 60% of voters in the Republican primary who describe themselves as evangelicals.
And it is far from clear he’s locked up that vote.
He didn’t in Michigan. Mr. Huckabee did well with churchgoers there, but the bigger story is so did other Republicans. According to exit polls,
of the 39% of Michigan voters in the GOP primary who described themselves as born-again or evangelical, Mr. Huckabee won 29%. A full 57% instead voted
for either Mr. Romney (34%) or Mr. McCain (23%). Of those who said a candidate’s “religious beliefs matter a great deal or somewhat,” Mr. Romney
won 36%, Mr. McCain 26% and Mr. Huckabee 25%.
The pickled Huckabee:
This indecision now has Mr. Huckabee in a pickle. He needs to shore up religious votes, but he also needs to start appealing to other parts of the
Republican base. One of the more notable numbers out of Michigan (where Mr. Huckabee placed third) was that of the 61% of primary voters who said they
were not born again or evangelical, he claimed a miserable 8%.
OUCH and DOUBLE OUCH:
In this crazy GOP race even a day is an eon, and if Mr. Huckabee has a shot of breaking through to more Republicans, it’s here. The polls show
that a significant number of voters remain undecided. But it’s increasingly clear that Mr. Huckabee will have to earn those votes by convincing
voters of his policies, not simply by the mere fact that he is a former minister.
I guess we are not the only ones who see him for who and what he is. In my opinion, Mike Huckabee should be killing it in South Carolina. He should be
running away with the primary election. He is a Baptist minister from the South. He should have just about all the votes down there; well, at least
from all the lemmings.
I love how Huckabee keeps telling all the pundits he is going to win South Carolina. Tonight on Fox, he even referred to a speech he gave as governor
as some who thought it “prophetic.”
~ Vic
Full Story @
online.wsj.com...
[edit on 19-1-2008 by SteveAndrew]
[edit on 19-1-2008 by SteveAndrew]