McCain/Huckabee Backroom Deal!

It's too odd to be a coincidence. In West Virginia, Mike Huckabee somehow surged from a distant second behind Mitt Romney to win the primary, along with the state's delegates. How did this happen?

It all has to do with W. Virginia's primary process. After the first round of balloting, the weakest performers drop out (in this case, John McCain and Ron Paul). Their supporters then vote again among the remaining contestants (Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney).

If you look at the numbers in the article, virtually 100% of McCain's supporters backed Huckabee in the end. Far to many for it to be a coincidence.

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic reported Tuesday that, after the first ballot, McCain’s campaign called his supporters there and urged them to vote in favor of Huckabee.

“Unfortunately, this is what Senator McCain’s inside Washington ways look like: he cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Governor Romney’s campaign of conservative change,” Beth Myers, Romney’s campaign manager, said in a statement.

If antics like this are what cause McCain to win the primaries, then the Republican Party truly will have destroyed itself.

Romney's Super-Tuesday Surge

It looks like Mitt Romney is finding some traction leading up to all-important Super Tuesday tomorrow. In the last week in many areas of the country he has eliminated most or all of John McCain's lead in the polls; especially significant is delegate-rich California, where Romney leads by eight points. This is complemented by his non-binding landslide win in Maine. I'm sure this is due in no small part to the support of the conservative ideologues in the media - the Rush Limbaughs, Sean Hannitys, Laura Ingrahams, et. al. He may have been helped by comments from Mike Huckabee, who is believed to be siphoning votes from Romney in the South. Huckabee has turned negative toward the talking heads who oppose him, even going so far as to say that Sean Hannity was speaking from his pocketbook because he was on the Bain Capital payroll.

Romney is known to be the most hated candidate among his competition thanks to his Washington outsider status, his money and his evolution on key issues. If he can pull this off, it will be quite the upset. At the very least, I believe Mitt will win enough delegates on Tuesday to continue his run.

From Deep Right Field - Coulter Endorses Romney

Characteristically caustic and coherent, Anne Coulter has thrown her support behind Mitt Romney. Her latest column highlights her specific reasoning. My favorite part:

One clue that Romney is our strongest candidate is the fact that Democrats keep viciously attacking him while expressing their deep respect for Mike Huckabee and John McCain.

This point was already extensively covered in Chapter 1 of "How To Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)": Never take advice from your political enemies.

Turn on any cable news show right now, and you will see Democratic pundits attacking Romney, calling him a "flip-flopper," and heaping praise on McCain and Huckleberry -- almost as if they were reading some sort of "talking points."

Who knows? Maybe other media influentials (i.e. Rush, Hannity, etc.) will come to the same conclusion. Because at this point, "Anybody but Hillary" just doesn't cut it.

Glenn Beck is Funny

Glenn on the Iowa event.

It Ain't Over Yet

Yes, yesterday's Iowa caucuses were disappointing to Romney supporters around the country. But he's not dead yet – not by a long shot. As Romney heads into his next battle, the CNN article points out that "Iowa is no New Hampshire."

In Iowa, entrance polls of caucus-goers showed that 3 out of every 5 Republicans were self-described born again or evangelical Christians. Huckabee beat Romney by better than 2-to-1 in this voting bloc. Among the rest of Iowa's Republican electorate, however, Huckabee finished a distant fourth behind Romney, McCain and Fred Thompson.

In New Hampshire, social conservatives are not as influential. This potentially opens the door for Romney to regain the upper hand or for McCain to repeat his 2000 victory.

It's comforting to remember that even with all the media hype surrounding the Iowa event, many victories there are merely flashes in the pan. To win nationally, Huckabee will have to do a lot more than win over the "self-described born again or evangelical Christians."

Meanwhile, I bet Mitt's more worried about McCain, who won the New Hampshire primaries last time around.

Regardless of how it turns out, it's strange to think that in about a month, in all likelihood we'll know who the nominees will be. Then the fun will really begin.

Mitt Romney: Most Targeted by the Democrats

These figures from Drudge are rather telling. It's a summary of the press release attacks from the Democratic National Committee. Here's the breakdown:

Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) – 37% (99 press releases)
Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-NY) – 28% (74)
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) – 24% (64)
Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) – 8% (20)
Governor Mike Huckabee – 2% (4)]

Mitt Romney is far and away the biggest target for the DNC. They obviously see him as the greatest threat, with the best chance of defeating Hillary or whomever else they nominate.

Compare that to Mike Huckabee, who has been on the business end of a total of four negative attack releases – even though he has proposed putting all AIDS victims under quarantine.

The DNC had better pray the anti-Mormons have their way. Hmm...now there's a strange pair of bedfellows.