OLD 1970s HAS-BEEN OBJECTS TO “IRON MIKE” HUCKABEE JAM TUNE

[NOTE: GET THE LATEST COMMENTS ON HUCKABEE'S RUN HERE (http://speedzzter.blogspot.com)])]

Leaping onto the recent trend of publicity-hungry leftist rock stars complaining about the use of nearly forgotten “oldies” as campaign songs, ancient rocker Tom Scholz of the antediluvian arena rock group “Boston” has ordered “Iron Mike” Huckabee to “cease and desist” from covering a crusty 1970s’ “classic” tune, according to the AP via the Drudge Report and Breitbart.

“In a letter to the Republican presidential hopeful, Tom Scholz complains that Huckabee is using his 1970s smash hit song "More Than a Feeling" without his permission.”

Tom Scholz is still alive? Who knew?

Actually, Speedzzter is surprised that Old Tom could take out time from all the GIANT ARENA "SELL-OUT" SHOWS that BOSTON still plays . . . oh wait: Has BOSTON even played a show since the end of the "8-TRACK" era?

At least Huckabee didn't get "caught" playing Boston's infamous "weed" track, "Smokin'" (Which WOULD of course be the "polar opposite of most everything" Huckabee stands for . . . .)

However, "just keep on tokin'" could go a long way to explain the mind set of Tom Scholz . . . .

Perhaps Tom shouldn’t let politics distract him from recording that “comeback” album . . . .

[“Boston?” Hmm? Does anybody smell a “Slick Willard” Mitt Romney plot here . . . . Just kidding. Just kidding.]

FULL DISCLOSURE: Speedzzter probably still has a couple of Boston 8-Tracks lying around somewhere . . . and maybe even an 8-Track player in the attic . . . .

BUSH 41 IN THE BAG FOR McCAIN

In yet another sign that the country-clubbers simply hate Mike Huckabee’s insurgency, the Politico is reporting that George H.W. Bush (of “Reagan/Bush” fame) will endorse John McCain.

That’s supposed to help McCain bridge the gap with conservatives?

"Hello, McFly?"

Does anyone remember 1992?

George H.W. Bush so badly blew the lead that Ronald Reagan left him that, with the help of Ross Perot, he LOST to “Slick Willie” Clinton.

George “Read My Lips” Bush is hardly a paragon of conservatism.

While Speedzzter greatly respects President Bush’s service to our Country, Bush 41's endorsement of another establishment Washingtonian Republican is as about as unexpected (or as newsworthy) as the apparent fact of national importance (as now established by a full-blown Congressional hearing)that some over-beefed “muscleheads” in baseball use steroids!

[Maybe Roger Clemens could share a little HGH with Barack Obama . . . then maybe Obama (the waif-like man of the “invisible” positions) would have some BEEF.

IS MICHAEL DALE HUCKABEE'S RUN LIKE FORD'S RUN IN THE DAYTONA 500?

[NOTE: GET THE LATEST COMMENTS ON HUCKABEE'S RUN HERE (http://speedzzter.blogspot.com)]

It's time for the Daytona 500. The Fiftieth renewal of the "Great American Race . . . ." "The 'Superbowl of stock car racing'."

Yawn.

YAWN?

How can that be?

For the first time in decades, Speedzzter will have to literally force himself to watch the "Great American Race."

(Actually, Speedzzter will probably tape the race, glance at it occasionally, and read a good book)

Daytona 500 day used to be one of the most anticipated days of Speedzzter's year.

Now it's a chore.

It's something that only for tradition's sake Speedzzter will observe.

How has the Daytona 500 fallen so low in Speedzzter's estimation?

And what does all of this have to do with "IRON MIKE" HUCKABEE?

(Be patient . . . wait for it)

THEY USED TO RACE "STOCK CARS" AT DAYTONA

Now before all the NASCAR wonks get bent out of shape, Speedzzter knows that even back in the glory days of NASCAR, "there's nothin' stock about a "stock car."

And Speedzzter even acknowledges that a lot of the "stock" in NASCAR began to be driven out back when Bill France Sr. capitulated to Ford's demand to allow a Holman-Moody "3/4 chassis" Fairlane race against Chrysler's Hemi-powered mid-size cars in the '60s.

Once NASCAR strayed from the production-based "stock car" formula, it started down the slippery slope to today's blandness and irrelevance.

But "Back in the Day" when David Pearson forcing his crippled Purolator Mercury past a more crippled Richard Petty Dodge to win the 1976 Daytona 500, at least Pearson's Mercury (in its pre-crash state) looked like a car you could buy on Monday. And its engine was built up from the same design as the engines then sold to the general public in Mercury dealerships. And the production Mercury was rear-wheel-drive (just like Pearson's race winner that year).

Fast forward eleven years . . . Bill Elliott's Ford Thunderbird . . . record qualifying speeds . . . Elliott's Dawsonville missile wasn't quite as "stock" as Pearson's car, but it was clearly very similar to the Thunderbirds for sale at your local for dealer. And the engine that powered Elliott to several all-time NASCAR speed records was a "hot rodded" version of engines Ford had actually sold to the general public.

To millions of little "Walter Mittys" who watched NASCAR back then, the cars had some relevance to the sorts of cars we built in our garages and parked in our driveways.

"Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" had some relevance, too, because at least we could buy a car fairly similar to what our NASCAR favorites drove.

And the stars of the old NASCAR then seemed relevant to ordinary fans.

Guys like Pearson, Elliott and the late, great Dale Earnhardt (who sadly only drove Fords for a couple of years in his career) seemed like real people -- not creations of some Madison Avenue focus group/clone factory.

Moreover, "Back in the Day," it didn't take 100 professional mechanics or a million dollars a race to field a competitive entry. When the late Alan Kulwicki took his legendary "Underbird" to the 1992 NASCAR season championship, he did it with only a handful of crewmen and a "shoestring" budget.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Nowadays, not one car in the starting line-up of the Daytona 500 has any relationship whatsoever with a street car (except for the obvious things that all automobiles must have in common . . . four wheels, etc.)

The engines powering the top ten qualifiers for this year's Daytona 500 HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO RELATIONSHIP WHATSOEVER WITH ANY ENGINES SOLD TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC IN A PRODUCTION MODEL! They are not even based on engines the manufacturers USED to sell to the public!

The bodies of the race cars in this year's Daytona 500 have not one regular production component. In fact, they are all "common template" "funny cars." Without the decals, the vast majority of fans would be hard pressed to tell a Ford from a Toyota from a Chevrolet from a Dodge.

And there's TOYOTA? What's a Japanese interloper doing in the "Great AMERICAN Race?"

Despite the fact that Toyota has NEVER EVER produced or sold in the U.S.A. a V8-powered, rear wheel drive "muscle car" of any kind, three of the top ten cars in this year's Daytona 500, will be pushrod V8-powered, carbureted, rear-wheel-drive "Camrys" . . . Cars that have absolutely no relationship to anything Toyota has EVER sold or ever plans to sell in America.

Of course for true blue Ford fans, this year's Daytona 500 looks to be a waste of time. Only seven Fords made the field. A mere SEVEN out of 43 starters.

Carl Edwards in 11th
David Ragan in 14th
Greg Biffle in 18th
Matt Kenseth in 28th
Travis Kvapil in 30th
David Gilliland in 32nd
Jamie McMurray in 38ths

Few of these drivers are household names to the casual NASCAR fan. Bill Elliott (once NASCAR's fastest man), now driving the legendary Wood Brothers Ford, will be sitting this one out.

More importantly, like most modern NASCAR drivers, the bulk of Ford's nondescript drivers appear to be cloned from the same boring Madison Avenue mold. They say the same scripted spiel whenever they are interviewed.

"Well the [insert sponsor] Ford was really running good out there today [so why did it finish so far back?]and the [insert sponsor] crew really gave me a good car. And the [insert sponsor] crew really did an 'awesome' job in the pits today. It was tough to get to the front and we made some adjustments all day and [insert crew chief ] did a good job keeping up with the track conditions. And I'd like to thank [insert long list of associate sponsors] We learned a lot for the 500 and we're gonna' keep diggin' . . ."

[WAKE ME UP WHEN THE INTERVIEW IS OVER]


What's worse, several of the drivers in the top ten of this year's Daytona 500 starting line-up changed teams or manufacturers for 2008 -- including the sports most popular driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (and one of the few that seems to say things other than what some ad man wrote for him) -- and Ford couldn't land any of these "celebrity" drivers.

It would probably take a miracle of biblical proportions for a Ford to win this year's Daytona 500.

Speedzzter could go on with many other obvious problems in the "modern" NASCAR, but what's the point . . . .

[Speedzzter's not the only critic of the "modern" NASCAR.
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz recently said:

"Somewhere along the way, as racing become a televised spectacle, that thing about 'the best car and best driver wins' kind of got neutralized, and we introduced what I call socialism in racing," he said, describing the format as "the world wrestling federation of motorsports."]

The bottom line is that Speedzzter has almost no anticipation for this year's running of the "Great American Race"

So why bother? Why do Ford fans show up? For that matter, why does Ford show up? In fact, why does anyone other than a few "superteams" such as Hendrick Motorsports and the Joe Gibbs/ Toyota juggernaut show up?

Why do teams that have never won a race still compete?

Why didn't the late great Dale Earnhardt Sr. not "hang it up when he went through a lengthy drought of wins in the mid 1990s (during the time when the terminally bland Jeff Gordon and the massive Hendrick Motorsports machine put their Chevy "funny cars" in the winner's circle almost at will)? Why didn't he quit after he'd lost something like 18 Daytona 500s in a row?

THERE ARE A LOT OF PARALLELS BETWEEN "IRON MICHAEL DALE HUCKABEE, DALE EARNHARDT AND FORD IN NASCAR.

The pundits and the GOP elites who have done their best to ruin the 2008 presidential election all ask why MICHAEL DALE HUCKABEE stays in the race.

To use the NASCAR analogy, "racers race."

When "Ol' Ironhead," the "Intimidator" Dale Earnhardt was in his mid-90s slump, he kept fighting because he believed in what he was doing. He believe he could still win. He wanted to put on a show for his legions of fans. He didn't want to let down his team or his sponsors.

Others might have been more competitive at the time, but "Ol' Ironhead" wasn't going to let them win by default.

Dale Earnhardt resonated with millions of NASCAR fans because of it. He was honest, genuine and real. He was plain spoken. He was at times impish and fun-loving. He wasn't just another fake, cookie-cutter, focus-grouped driver on an advertising script.

His determination eventually paid off with a celebrated win in the 1998 Daytona 500.

When Dale Earnhardt was killed at the end of another Daytona 500, a huge national outpouring of fans mourned his passing.

As for Michael Dale Huckabee . . . he's got a lot in common with that other "Dale." He's got grit. He's got drive. He's got determination. He's not going to let the "competition" win by default. He's impish, charming and real as well. He not another cookie-cutter, focus grouped politician (i.e. Mitt-the-Flip Romney) on a advertising script. And he's got millions of supporters and fans in NASCAR country. "Iron Mike" is a lot like "Ol' Ironhead."


But "Dale Huckabee's" got something more. He's got a strong traditional conservative message that is important for America to hear.


Real racers race. Real competitors compete.

Similarly, Ford races because racing is integral to the make up of Ford.

Although the current NASCAR regime has done its dead-level best to KILL "stock car" racing and "stage manage" the outcome, the Ford Motor Company realizes that this is still the biggest stage in American motorsports. It's still a place where a company that races needs to "show the flag."

And Ford keeps fighting because it believes in what it's doing. It believes Fords can still win. It wants to put on a show for the legion of Ford fans. Ford believes that Ford contributes to the tapestry of competition. Ford doesn't want to let us down.

["Ford found consideration for its products was more than 100 percent higher among race fans."]


"Iron Mike's" fight for the Republican party and the 2008 presidential nomination is also a lot like Ford's NASCAR fight.

Maybe it's not as competitive as some of the elite "teams."

Maybe he's not as well-funded.

Maybe "Iron Mike's" not in front at the moment.

But Mike "keeps on diggin'."

He wants to "put on a show" for all of those voters who believe that it's the actual votes that count, and not what the pundits predict. It's not just a "show" for personal gain or fame, but rather it's a "show" for the traditional conservative values millions of us hold dear. It's a "show" for giving some a voice who would ordinarily have no voice in the GOP.

"Iron Mike" keeps working towards his goal, despite what others may say or do.

Maybe something "awesome" will happen . . . if not in this "race," than in a race to come.

As a true competitor, "Iron Mike" competes.

We may not like the game anymore, but as long as there is one, we need to be in it.

"IRON MIKE" WON'T QUIT BEFORE 1191 DELEGATES ARE COMMITTED!

[NOTE: GET THE LATEST COMMENTS ON HUCKABEE'S RUN HERE (http://speedzzter.blogspot.com)]


In response to the Gucci Chameleon, "Slick Willard" Mitt Romney's latest tactical flip-flop (trying to flip his delegates to John McCain in order to disenfranchise millions of GOP primary voters), Governor Mike Huckabee released the following statement:

MY COMMITMENT TO YOU by Mike Huckabee

"I am seeking the Presidency because I care deeply about important issues facing America—Life, Marriage, the Fair Tax, the Second Amendment, American Border Security and Sovereignty. I am as committed to those issues as I ever was, and my campaigning around the country has convinced that the majority of Republicans want me to continue to fight for these and other conservative causes. So I will. "

"I know all about the rumors swirling around. That why I just went on national news show this afternoon, to knock those rumors down. I am still in this race. As I have said all along, I am in this race until someone gets to 1191 delegates. That has not happened yet, and so I will keep campaigning for the Republican nomination. Period. That’s my ironclad commitment to my supporters."

"Iron Mike's" steely resolve ought to remind true conservatives of the recent film "REMEMBER THE TITANS."

The upstart Titans football team was down on the scoreboard . . . .

The referees were colluding to call the game for the opposing team . . . .

Tradition and history said the Titans couldn't win . . .

The elites had asked Assistant Coach Yoast to "go along" with "stopping the Titans" for the good of the established powers-that-be. . . .

The elites held out a carrot of a Virginia sports "Hall of Fame" and of becoming head coach "next year" if Assistant Coach Yoast just went along . . . with the inevitable. . . the "natural order" of things . . . .

And the Titans' defense was just being manhandled on the field as well . . . momentum . . . superior resources . . . favoritism . . . tradition.

It would have been easier to quit . . . just to go with the flow . . . to accept the "inevitable."

But like our "IRON MIKE HUCKABEE," Coach Yoast didn't bend. He didn't break. He didn't yield . He didn't "surrender."

Coach Yoast told his defense:

"Alright, now I don't want them to gain another yard. Blitz all night. If they cross the line of scrimmage I'm taking every last one of you out. You make sure they remember forever the night they played the Titans!"

And that's what being for "Iron Mike" Huckabee really means.

They're telling us we can't win. (What's new?)

They're telling us we don't have enough of the "right stuff."

They're telling us our votes don't count.

They're telling us the "fix is in."

They're telling us to "shut up and get in line."

AND THE SUPPORTERS OF "IRON MIKE" HUCKABEE SAY TO THEM, WE'RE GONNA MAKE SURE THEY REMEMBER FOREVER THE CAMPAIGN WHEN THEY TOOK ON "IRON MIKE" AND "HUCK'S ARMY!"

"IRON MIKE" Huckabee intends to fight on for traditional conservative values and giving voters in the remaining states a real choice (not a rubber-stamp of what the GOP elites and Mitt Romney have chosen for us).

IS ROMNEY'S ALLEGED ENDORSEMENT OF McCAIN THE ULTIMATE FLIP-FLOP?

[NOTE: GET THE LATEST COMMENTS ON HUCKABEE'S RUN HERE (http://speedzzter.blogspot.com)]


Matt Drudge and Breitbart are reporting that the Gucci Chameleon, "Slick Willard" Mitt Romney will disenfranchise millions of primary voters by attempting to swing his delegate block over to John McCain today.

The pundits will gleefully now declare that McCain + Romney = 1191. Game over. [Even if the math doesn't quite add up]

They will champion a triumph of Wall Street and the country club over Main Street and the countryside.

They will celebrate the "end" of Mike Huckabee's brilliant insurgency and declare him "dead" as a force in the GOP forevermore.

If the reports are true, Romney's "Valentine's Day Massacre" of democracy ought to prove a number of things to GOP conservatives.

Hopefully, all of the conservatives who drank the "talk radio Kool-aide" by supporting Romney as the "great conservative hope" will now see that their "anti-McCain" savior is nothing more than a political opportunist.

Romney, as it turns out, was nothing more than a decoy to stop Mike Huckabee and propel John McCain to the nomination.

Romney is about to commit the "ultimate" flip-flop: from flame-throwing McCain critic to sycophantic McCain lap-dog.

Romney spent millions trashing McCain on television and radio.

Romney ripped at McCain in the debates.

Romney claimed McCain wasn't qualified to lead America on economic matters.

Romney claimed that "Washington was broken" and that McCain was part of the problem, not the solution.

But now, Romney wants all of us to forget all of that crazy talk from "Romney 1.0, Romney 2.0 and Romney 3.0 . . . ." in favor of a new, Romney-enforced "party unity."

Romney's latest flip-flop proves he wasn't sincere or honest about his opposition to McCain. It proves that the "Blue State Republicans" and the Rockefeller wing of the GOP will stop at nothing to disenfranchise the Southern bedrock voters of the modern Republican party.

Romney has decided to hammer a golden stake through the heart of Reagan coalition.

(Speedzzter supposes we won't hear any more "sour grapes" about the alleged "dirty" backroom deal that the Romney-ians claim gave Mike Huckabee the win in West Virginia. Romney's craven maneuver to short-circuit the vote of Texas and a dozen other states makes whatever happened in West Virginia pale in comparison.)


Speedzzter supposes we also won't hear any more from the various paid media Romney shills, such as Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Hugh Hewitt, Glen Beck, etc. about how Romney is the great conservative legatee to Ronald Reagan and the ONE who could have stopped McCain.

But one thing that the Romney-ians can never take from Mike Huckabee. Huckabee won the primaries in the places that a viable GOP candidate MUST WIN.

The only places Mitt Romney could buy with his huge checkbook were states dominated by his LDS religion, a few Western caucus states (where organization produced results), and states in which he had family ties.

For all of his money and machinations, Romney never proved he could win in the bulk of the Red States -- even against a less that perfect GOP field.

So much for all of Romney's "future of the GOP" rhetoric. It's now just another discarded Romney persona (among the many).

Just another flip-flop in a political lifetime of flip-flops.

In other words, vintage Romney.

HUCKABEE’S RUN IS ABOUT MORE THAN 405 ADDITIONAL DELEGATES

[NOTE: GET THE LATEST COMMENTS ON HUCKABEE'S RUN HERE (http://speedzzter.blogspot.com)]

The GOP elites and their “willing accomplices in the media” are now in full-bore “carry-the-water” mode for the McCain camp.

[Discriminating readers undoubtedly wonder if Speedzzter could possibly have packed more hackneyed cliches into that last sentence]

Much like the legion of rational advisors to Job in the Bible, the GOP elites seemingly all say – for various reasons- it’s time for Mike to quit.

1. The conflict-averse country-clubbers who believe they “own” the GOP are all waiving their custom putters in the air, demanding that Huckabee yield to the inevitability of McCain and “party unity.”


2. The bitter and petty Romney-ians – still holding out false hope that their wooden dud of a candidate can some how buy his perfectly coifed, designer-clad carcass onto the McCain ticket – continue to oscillate between jealous indignation at Huckabee’s success in the places that GOP candidates MUST WIN and wallowing in a muck of flimsy excuses about Romney’s colossal “failure to launch.”

The only instant gratification left for the Romney-ians is to knock Huckabee out before he garners more strength and affection among the GOP base.

3. The McCain insiders want Huckabee to quit because they don’t want to be pulled any further to the right. They also realize that, notwithstanding all of the “impossibility” spin, that McCain is highly vulnerable to a brokered convention if Huckabee and Paul combine for 405 or more of the remaining delegates.

Undoubtedly, some of the McCain forces envy the pass that “Where’s the Beef” Obama is getting from the mainstream media, and see Huckabee as increasingly reminding voters of McCain’s shortcomings as both a conservative and as a rhetorical force.

Some believe that the longer that the “sunny and likeable” Huckabee stays in the race, the more it makes McCain appear grumpy, old and dower.

4. The Eastern GOP talk radio establishment wants Huckabee to go because every vote he gets reinforces the fact that these “shepherds-of-the-airwaves” bet it all on an ersatz conservative (a plastic flip-flopper who couldn’t win when and where it really counted) and their electronic flocks simply refused to follow.


5. The secular conservative elites are all raging in their oak-paneled board rooms and private clubs -- literally seething between cocktails -- that “the Huckster” continues to rally the socially conservative “rabble” of the GOP . . . those uncultured “shock troops” of the party who for some unknown (to them) reason really CARE about “God, guns and gays” and who won’t shut up ALREADY about “saving the unborn” . . . .

The secular conservative elites disdainfully wonder why those “ignorant social conservative bigots” don’t realize that while the “hot button” issues Huckabee raises are nice election-year “wedges,” our cosmopolitan political system isn’t really going to give any of them consideration as actual policies.

In their cynical, skeptical minds, the secular conservatives acquiesce that McCain may not be Rudy, but at least he’s not some “redneck Bible thumper.” Thus, the sooner Huckabee is ushered off the stage and back into his “Southern Evangelical ghetto,” the sooner McCain can retreat to giving social conservative issues a token level of lip service (only when necessary) and then to forget about them for another four years.

These are powerful forces aligned against the Huckabee insurgency.

So why is it important for Governor Huckabee to continue?

Bob Wickers, a Huckabee strategist, said the former Arkansas governor still hoped to best McCain, but added that there were "bigger issues here about the next generation."

"It's about conservatives," Wickers said. "It's about the movement. It's about people under-represented in the party who need a voice, and him being that voice."


As Speedzzter has previously pointed out, it’s also important as a check and as a strengthening test for McCain.

“McCain supporters [at least some of them] say Huckabee's continued presence has an upside. It keeps their candidate in the news at a time when the Democratic nomination fight between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama dominates coverage, and it reminds independents and Democrats that McCain has often strayed from his party. Beyond that, said Ken Khachigian, a lawyer and veteran GOP strategist, ‘It doesn't hurt to keep John's feet to the fire with conservatives.’"

A strong Huckabee candidacy is also important for the future of the GOP.

"I think he's gained enormously over the course of this, and strengthened his position for whatever he chooses to do next, and at the same time, he may play a pretty powerful role in reunifying the Republican Party," said Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who runs the GOP's House campaign committee. "The personal vitriol that can sometimes occur in these things just seems to be absent between these two, so that's sort of a nice way to end up a pretty spirited process."


Huckabee is a safety valve for the GOP. His candidacy allows voters in Texas and several other states who have not voted a chance to “vote their conscience” in good faith. He encourages traditional conservatives to believe that the Post-Reagan GOP hasn’t totally jettisoned the social conservative “leg” of the Reagan coalition.

Huckabee is the only GOP candidate who has remotely engendered the sort of grassroots excitement and enthusiasm of Obama-mania. Without Huckabee, the next six months would become a virtual “blackout” period for Republicans.

Saddled by a “Blue-state” front-loaded primary scheme (and the expensive, corrosive machinations of the Romney-ians) with a “presumptive nominee” who inspires little affection or excitement in the Red State base, once Huckabee is gone, the vast majority of the GOP electorate will “tune out.” This promises to “suck all of the air” out of the GOP election machine for several months (all the while the raging Obama-Hillary battle royale stokes the Democrats to a fever pitch).

Huckabee’s importance to true, consistent traditional conservatives and to the GOP as a whole is far more than just the real possibility that he COULD block McCain’s coronation by the “establishment.”

405 more delegates is a big motivation, but it’s not the biggest reason for Huckabee to keep running.

Huckabee’s continued candidacy is essential to the struggle of traditional conservatives to prevent the GOP from slipping further into a secularized, urbanized “big [increasingly empty] tent.”

Huckabee’s continued candidacy – as was Ronald Reagan’s valiant fight in 1976 -- is crucial for driving the GOP away from the detached “country club/Rockefeller malaise” that always results when the party coalesces around another “establishment” nominee who’s “time has come.”

Huckabee’s continued candidacy is necessary to keep McCain focused on competing for the grassroots of the GOP,

Huckabee’s continued candidacy is critical for energizing the scores of voters who increasingly believe that the GOP is not responsive to their concerns.

Huckabee’s continued candidacy is indispensable for building up and encouraging the next generation conservative leaders to fight for traditional conservative values.

Huckabee’s continued candidacy is virtually obligatory to demonstrate that our elections are not always for sale to the highest bidder and that both passion and ideas matter.

Huckabee’s continued candidacy is about proclaiming a message of truth on many of the critical issues of our time.

Huckabee’s continued candidacy is about hope: hope (albeit slim) for today and for the future.

While pundits such as Rush Limbaugh cynically dismiss hope as a force in life and in politics, many of Huckabee’s supporters know the timeless wisdom that “hope does not disappoint” regardless of the immediate outcome when that hope is placed in beliefs, values and actions that are fundamentally ordained as true, just, and correct.

The continued candidacy of Mike Huckabee isn’t just about winning. It’s about rebuilding the movement to fight for the values which are at the essence of the American experience.

Keep running, Mike!

"MUST READ" POST ON HUCKABEE'S REMAINING SHOT AT THE GOP NOMINATION.


[NOTE: GET THE LATEST COMMENTS ON HUCKABEE'S RUN HERE (http://speedzzter.blogspot.com)]

The "Vote for Huckabee" blog has a "must read" post today for true conservatives.

"Huckabee could take 7 more red states (some of them by double digits plus big ole TX), lose 3 blue states, and split 5 Romney states. That's a recipe for a brokered convention!"

"Don't fall for the media spin you will hear between now and Texas. You will only hear McCain's delegate count about a million more times from tonight until March 4th. What they won't tell you is that McCain is about to go through the Huckabee gauntlet of states!"

THE MAGIC “STOP McCAIN” NUMBER IS NOW 405

[NOTE: GET THE LATEST COMMENTS ON HUCKABEE'S RUN HERE (http://speedzzter.blogspot.com)]


It’s true that bona fide conservatives came up short in the “Potomac Primaries.” Of course, the “D.C. Beltway” is overwhelmingly moderate “McCain country,” so an insurgent victory there was always a long-shot.

Still, Huckabee almost pulled off the “impossible” in moderate, beltway-insider dominated Virginia.

Although the conservative talk radio "jihad" continues and Fox News repeatedly has declared Huckabee "dead," he continues to RUN HARD!

And the math strongly suggests that the race is far from over.
According to Adrian Wilcox (from mikehuckabee.com)

“John McCain has 821 Delegates leaving 370 of the remaining delegates needed to secure the nomination outright.

There are 774 delegates remaining, of which if Mike Huckabee [or others] would only have to retain 405 or 52% of the remaining delegates to force the nomination to [the] convention . . .”

Many of the delegates left to be chosen are NOT in winner-take-all states and many are in "Huckabee Country"

19-Feb Wisconsin 40
4-Mar Texas 140
4-Mar Ohio 88
4-Mar Rhode Island 20
4-Mar Vermont 17 Winner Take All
10-Mar Mississippi 39
22-Apr Pennsylvania 74
6-May North Carolina 69
6-May Indiana 57
13-May Nebraska 33
16-May Hawaii 20
20-May Kentucky 45
20-May Oregon 30
27-May Idaho 32
3-Jun New Mexico 32
3-Jun South Dakota 27

Clearly, a negotiated convention (formerly known as a “brokered convention”) remains possible. It remains critical for Huckabee to control as many delegates as he possibly could to leverage the best outcome for true social conservatives.

It's also still important for purposes of determining the vice presidential nominee, committee assignments, and the contents of the GOP platform for Huckabee to have a large block of delegates.

The best insurance of a strong, consistent social conservative platform is for Mike Huckabee to have as many delegates as possible at the GOP convention.

Finally, it’s STILL important to the future of traditional conservatism for Huckabee to appropriately position himself for a second White House bid (and to cripple Romney’s selfish schemes for such a bid).

Mike Huckabee has demonstrated himself as a loyal GOP supporter who will work for success in November. But some pundits cynically suggest that Romney is better served by teeing up another run as early as 2012– a scenario that virtually requires him to undermine any GOP success this fall.

While Huckabee would be the best nominee for traditional, consistent conservatives – if that’s not possible-- a strong Huckabee is a great asset and insurance policy for unity and victory in the fall

Despite these obvious facts, many in the elite GOP establishment question why Mike Huckabee keeps running?

The best answer to this question is provided by undoubtedly the BEST communicator in the GOP today -- Mike Huckabee himself:

“The first question I am often asked these days is: ‘Why are you still running for President?’

It is because I believe that I am the best candidate to represent you in the fall against the Democrats. Why? Because I have core conservative beliefs that I have never wavered from:

I believe in the Human Life Amendment and I will fight for it from Day 1 of my Presidency.

I believe in the Marriage Amendment.
I believe in massive tax reform and am an advocate of the FairTax.
I believe that President Bush's tax cuts should be made permanent.
I believe in the Surge, our troops and General Petraeus.
I believe the 2nd amendment is one of the best ways to protect us from tyranny and I will work tirelessly to protect it from activist judges.
I believe in real border security and have proposed a detailed 9 point plan to secure our borders.
I believe the best judge is a conservative judge that won't legislate from the bench.
These are some of the reasons why I am running for President and let me also say that YOU are another reason. I am running to give you a voice in the process. To lift up your voice with mine and to tell our Party and our government that we need to do better. We need to think big and fight for our ideas.
There’s lots of voting left to be done before our Republican Party’s nominee is decided.We are still in this race and we are running hard.”

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"MUST SEE:" HUCKABEE'S PATH TO THE NOMINATION

[NOTE: GET THE LATEST COMMENTS ON HUCKABEE'S RUN HERE (http://speedzzter.blogspot.com)]


http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=1427

Bottom line: if Huckabee and other candidates can take 671 or more of the remaining delegates from McCain, then the nomination will go to the convention floor. At that point, the rules of several states will cause many delegates that McCain and Romney count on to be released.

Fox News Channel ("FNC") and the GOP elites, of course, will go "all out" to prevent this from happening.

Why else would FNC NOT carry Governor Huckabee's entire CPAC speech?

This is evidence that FNC continues its unfair and unbalanced coverage of Governor Huckabee's campaign.

This is not a new phenomenon.

First, several FNC hosts were "in the bag" for Rudy. During the "Huckaboom" last fall FNC went out of its way to air Govenor Huckabee's critics and Governor Romney's anti-Huckabee talking points. When Fox conducted the second New Hampshire debate, FNC biased the questions and the airtime away from Governor Huckabee. Then when Rudy flopped, some FNC hosts (i.e. Hannity) started overtly campaigning for Romney. Now that Romney's quit, FNC has become a de facto extension of the McCain camp. One of the worst examples is FNC's reliance on Karl Rove, who -- according to Huck's Army.com is a "maxed out" donor to John McCain.

Many Huckabee-supporting conservatives used to appreciate FNC's fresh perspective on the news. That was before their "Jihad" against Huckabee. But FNC's ratings will suffer if they continue down this unfair and biased path.

Another example of how the GOP elites are trying to "ram through" McCain's nomination without a convention floor vote is the premature "call" of the Washington Caucuses (I'd say "cauci" but this website is boycotting "Rush-isms" for the time being due to Rush Limbaugh's open and notorious bias against consistent social conservatives, including Mike Huckabee).

Huckabee's camp released the following statement:

“The Huckabee campaign is deeply disturbed by the obvious irregularities in the Washington State Republican precinct caucuses. It is very unfortunate that the Washington State Party Chairman, Luke Esser, chose to call the race for John McCain after only 87 percent of the vote was counted. According to CNN, the difference between Senator McCain and Governor Huckabee is a mere 242 votes, out of more than 12,000 votes counted—with another 1500 or so votes, apparently, not counted. That is an outrage.

[So much for all those claims that Huckabee couldn't pull votes out of the South]


“In other words, more than one in eight Evergreen State Republicans have been disenfranchised by the actions of their own party. This was an error in judgment by Mr. Esser. It was Mr. Esser’s duty to oversee a fair vote-count process. Washington Republicans know, from bitter experience in the 2004 gubernatorial election, the terrible results that can come from bad ballot-counting.


“Frankly, I am disappointed in the way that Mr. Esser has handled this urgent matter. So I call upon Mr. Esser and his colleagues to cooperate fully with the Huckabee campaign—and all Republicans, everywhere, who care about honest and transparent vote-counting—to make sure that every vote is counted and that all Republicans in Washington have the chance to make their votes count. Attempts by our campaign to contact Mr. Esser have been unsuccessful. Our lawyers will be on the ground in Washington State soon, and we look forward to sitting down with Mr. Esser to evaluate this process, to see why the count took so long, and why the vote-counting was stopped prematurely.


“It would be a disservice to every voter in Washington State to not pursue a full accounting of all votes cast.


“This is not about Mike Huckabee. This is not about Senator John McCain. This is about the failings of the Washington State Republican Party. All Republicans should unite to demand an honest accounting of the votes, so that Republicans can have full confidence in the results, and full confidence in the eventual Republican nominee. As I said, we are prepared to go to court, and we are also prepared to take our case all the way to the Republican National Convention in September.


“Our cause is just. We must reemphasize the sacred American principle that all ballots be counted in a free, fair, and transparent manner.”


Huckabee made some brilliant comments on the stump in Lynchburg, Virginia over the weekend:

“I’m really not very persuaded by the party officials and the party establishment who come out now and are saying 'Oh, well John McCain has 700 delegates, we oughta just quit,'” said Huckabee.

“When they wrote the rules, it said you had to have 1,191. So why did they write the rules for that game of play and now want to change the rules, that’s crazy. And so, you know, I’m playing by the rules that were written for me and I’m not trying to make them and I’m not trying to break them, so we’ll continue doing it.”

"When [your opponents] really don’t think you have a chance, they ignore you. When they say bad things about you, they fear you. So the fact that I’m being asked to leave and all these things are being said, it’s an extraordinary honor. I don’t necessarily enjoy it, but I sure appreciate it."

Huckabee on "Meet the Press" said:

"If our party can't have a thoughtful discussion and some meaningful debate and dialogue about the issues important to us as a party, then we are really not prepared to lead."

A vote for Mike Huckabee is a vote against a "coronation" of John McCain.

A vote for Huckabee is a vote for the only true, consistent conservative with a strong record of executive experience left in the race.

A vote for Huckabee strengthens the process even if John McCain is the eventual nominee because it will force McCain to the right and it will keep the GOP in the news (the worst thing for the GOP in November is for the next six months of news to be about Obama v. Hillary)

A vote for Huckabee is a vote against the GOP elites who have led the party to become the party of fiscal irresponsiblity, earmarks and cynical "identity politics."