HuffPo: Huckabee "first on most lists" as likely GOP candidate for Vice President

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Mike Huckabee: Everyone's First Choice for VP on the GOP Ticket

Posted January 25, 2008 | 09:17 AM (EST)



There's a story that would be less disturbing if not true that George H.W. Bush asked a number of close advisers to send him their lists of who should be on his ticket as VP. Dan Quayle -- for whom Bill Kristol was chief of staff -- was No. 2 on most of these lists. If Romney or McCain or Giuliani were to win the GOP nomination, the name that would come in first on most of those lists is Mike Huckabee. Some in the Republican camp are pushing Chuck Hagel as a partner for Romney if he wins the nod -- and I actually think that would be an excellent pairing, but most odds makers would favor Huckabee. And as Krauthammer writes today:

Mike Huckabee is not going to be president. The loss in South Carolina, one of the most highly evangelical states in the union, made that plain. With a ceiling of 14 percent among nonevangelical Republicans, Huckabee's base is simply too narrow.

But his was not a rise and then a fall. He came from nowhere to establish himself as the voice of an important national constituency. Huckabee will continue to matter, and might even carry enough remaining Southern states to wield considerable influence at a fractured Republican convention.

Huckabee as a pre-9/11, pre-Cheney VP would not be that worrisome to me, but the nature and powers of the Vice Presidency have changed and thus the decision about who holds that power matters more than it ever did before in American history. There is much about Huckabee that makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm not into faith-based politics. That said, there's a pragmatic current running in him that few -- including me -- have paid much attention to, and perhaps that needs to be revisited. Huckabee is getting counsel from people like Jim Pinkerton and Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations. But Frank Gaffney, one of the co-governors of American neoconservatism, is also an adviser.

George W. Bush has always had realists around him, but they were subordinate and buried beneath the dominance of neoconservatives and pugnacious nationalists for much of his tenure. If Huckabee increasingly looks like he has a lock on the Vice Presidency -- which is the way things are looking to me at this early stage -- then many will have to work to fix the realists in a dominant position around him and to curb the influence of international messianic crusaders who will also be part of the Huckabee mix.

-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-clemons/mike-huckabee-everyone_b_83212.html

[lutefisk]

1. Not VP...I predict he will be Secretary of Homeland Religion!...n/t

[Mz Pip]

2. Huckebee would be

president if McCain died in office or was unable to serve out his term. He's had cancer and he isn't a young man by any stretch of the imagination.

President Huckabee. :scared:

Mz Pip
:dem:

[AndyTiedye]

3. We'll Need to Revive those "Heartbeat Away from the Presidency" Ads

Especially if it's McCain/Huckabee :scared:

[TwilightGardener]

4. I'm baffled by him as VP--the evangelicals will vote for the Repub.

Evangelicals/SoCons are NOT opposed to Romney and McCain. They were only opposed to Rudy, and he's pretty much out. And the Southern thing--the two Southerners in the race have either dropped out (Fred) or proved to have only narrow appeal in certain areas (Huck). McCain won in South Carolina, which proves that he had more appeal there than the Huckster--why would McCain or Romney need him at all? I agree with Steve though that a Romney/Hagel pairing makes sense--Mittens would need someone to grab Indies, and I think Hagel could do that for him.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

6. I think their chances are better with Romney / Hagel...

...I don't get the Huckabee appeal. He's become damaged goods. And as others have pointed out, if he ended up on the McCain ticket, there's a four year possibility of "President Huckabee."

[TwilightGardener]

10. I figure Mittens will run with a Senator, because he needs a DC insider, the way

Clinton picked Gore. But he desperately needs to appeal to people outside the base of the party if he's the nominee, and it wouldn't hurt to have someone with military/foreign policy creds--that's why Hagel makes sense, but the GOP base might be too pissed about him to let him on the ticket. However, it would be Mittens' best chance to win. Huck has proven to be an unserious circus clown--and his mouth is a real liability. I agree--damaged goods.

[Gloria]

5. I speculated on this awhile ago....that the GOP runs a "populist"

voice, while we're stuck with two who are raking in the corporate cash... If McCain is the nominee, he talks about reforming campaign law and adds the Huck "populism."

And once again, the Democratic Party is behind the curve....our best bet, Edwards, is nowhere to be seen.

[robbedvoter]

7. Howz about "Jayzus Czar? that oughta be bigger than VP!

[JoePhilly]

8. Expect McCain -- with Lindsey Grahm as VP pick. nt

[TwilightGardener]

12. Goober Graham is barely tolerated in his own state--and hated by

the base because of immigration. I don't think it'll be Lady Lindsey.

[hisownpetard]

9. Huckabee: Bar-B-Q Czar

[BeyondGeography]

11. McCain-Huckabee is the best they can do

[TwilightGardener]

13. Actually, I think McCain-Pawlenty or McCain-Sanford would be the

best they can do. Huck is fast turning into a joke and a liability.

[NJSecularist]

14. That would be a scary ticket

McCain would get a good independent turnout. He'll have some convincing to do to convince the hardcore conservatives to vote for him, but that should be easier as the general election gets closer and Hillary is the nominee. He also has the religious right in the back pocket if Huckabee is his VP.

It's the ticket I don't want to see.

[splat]

15. McCain-Huckabee would upset nonreligious conservatives a lot

McCain is 71, and his VP might well have to step in if his health fails.

A lot of Republicans want no part of the preacher.