Huckabee Campaign Challenges Results of Washington Caucuses (Gets hung up on, too!)

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

February 10, 2008, 5:26 PM
Huckabee Campaign Challenges Results of Washington Caucuses

RICHMOND, VA. -- All day, Mike Huckabee's campaign has been trying to learn about how the final 13 percent of the votes in the Washington state Republican caucuses would be counted. As of this afternoon, only 87 percent of the votes have been counted and CBS News has deemed the state too close to call.

Finally, Luke Esser, the chair of the state GOP party, returned the Huckabee campaign's call, saying the final results would be determined sometime within the week.

The only hitch? The state chairman had already declared John McCain the winner last night, with only a 242 vote lead. In a written statement last night, Esser said, “Congratulations to Sen. McCain for a hard-fought win, his second caucus victory in the 2008 presidential nomination process. And congratulations to Gov. Huckabee for his strong second-place finish.”

Huckabee campaign lawyer Lauren Huckabee (daughter-in-law of the candidate), who is skeptical of the fairness, asked for a lawyer to monitor the resluts. The state GOP denied the request and hung up on Lauren Huckabee, according to the campaign. Campaign adviser Ed Rollins will be sending lawyers to Olympia, scheduled to land this evening, to investigate the matter.

...snip...

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/02/10/politics/fromtheroad/entry3813882.shtml

More Info:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/177863.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/177859.php

[Mz Pip]

1. Somehow I don't think

Huckabee will be easily blown off. Bad move by the GOP. Would have just been easier to let this all play out, but no they have to get snotty with someone who has energized their base. Way to go, GOP.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

2. They wanted to avoid the Sunday Headline that Huckabee swept the Saturday primaries

A few days from now they'll count the remaining 13% of th votes and quietly say, "Hey, what do you know? Turns out Huckabee won"

Read the TPM links for the whole sordid tale

[O.M.B.inOhio]

3. Yes, but my hopes fall short of MSM taking seriously election official abuses of power

Sherole Eaton, anyone?

Even in my county, one of 2 (I think) that performed the 2004 election recount legally, provisional ballots were not counted. Why? Because the 2 republicans on the BOE didn't want votes from likely-Democratic precincts counted if it could be avoided. The 2 democrats o nthe Board wanted all voted counted, and the Secretary of State was the tiebreaker. SoS Blackwell also held a position on Bush's campaign.

Demoralizing Republican voters is a good thing for the future of American peace and prosperity, but reform of election practices would be a consequence, too.

[katusha]

4. Gov. Huckabee if you're reading this..

I think this may be the last straw for you. I think it is about time you consider running an independant bid for the white house. your party is trying to rob you!!!

[Marie26]

5. Go Huckabee!

Fight for your votes! This is such an obvious example of election fraud & disenfranchisement of voters. It looks like the state GOP just decided to stop counting in order to avoid the embarrassment of McCain losing all three caucuses in one night. And now they're just stalling until after the big VA/MD elections, where McCain can lock up the nomination. The Republican establishment is terrified at the thought that Huckabee might actually win the nomination.