FLORIDA: ROMNEY AND RUDY LEARN “CAN’T BUY ME LOVE”

It was likely enough to make Rush Limbaugh knock back a few “adult beverages.”

It was enough to send Sean Hannity into anti-Huck overdrive.

It was enough to prompt Laura Ingraham to question whether “Reagan Conservatism is dead” and to say “Romney should give Huckabee whatever he wants.” (Of course what Governor Huckabee wants is for the unelectable Gucci Chameleon, “Slick” Willard Mitt Romney to head on back to Bain Capital and presiding over an LDS Stake . . . .)

John McCain’s victory in Florida was a triumph of grassroots “Main Street” Reagan conservatives over the self-appointed elite leaders of the GOP.

McCain’s Florida win was a triumph of substance over slickness.

On that score, Mitt Romney’s mendacity and make-overs simply didn’t sell, notwithstanding a self-financed, multi-million dollar ad campaign and a tidal wave of negative robo-calls. An army of "Mitt-bots" simply wasn't enough.

To frame the race in a dating analogy -- a majority of voters saw Romney as like a privileged, nerdy “frat boy” lout who’d studied up on a slew of formulas on how to “pick up girls.” . . .

A shallow sort of narcissist who would say “Sure, I’ll respect you in the morning,” while expecting his latest “marks” to ignore “all the girls he’s loved before (gun control, $50 abortion co-pays, millions in fee increases that “aren’t taxes,” secret timetables that “aren’t timetables”).” . . .

The sort of selfish cad who would maliciously gossip against any rivals to his latest “conquest.”

John McCain, on the other hand, is widely viewed as the mix of a distinguished, courtly gentleman (who will defend their honor if pushed), but one who will tell them the unvarnished truth. He’s the kind of suitor who would gently say, “Sure, it wouldn’t hurt if you lost thirty pounds” or “that dress is ugly and too expensive.” . . . A solid, no-nonsense, salt-of-the-earth sort of guy. A real man’s man -- not a plastic, primped and preened creation of paid handlers and coaches.

Both Rudy and Romney learned that investing millions in the Sunshine State cannot trump character, consistency and conviction.

They learned the harsh reality of “Can’t buy me love.”

Despite spending almost no time or money courting voters in the winner-take-all Florida primary, Governor Mike Huckabee’s shoe-string campaign nearly matched Rudy’s multi-million dollar “camp out” in results. And Rudy wasn’t fending off a nearly endless “jihad” waged by Rush, Sean and a whole host of lesser talk radio lights.

It was Rudy’s personal character (or lack thereof) combined with his flawed procrastinator’s strategy which did him in.

As both Thompson and Rudy have demonstrated, the 2008 GOP electorate isn’t going to reward a candidate who doesn’t work hard enough for their votes.

So the race comes down to McCain, Huckabee and Romney.

Given the magnitude of Romney’s arrogance and the vast size of his checkbook, “Citizen Kane 2008" will try to hold on, even though he’s yet to win a contested state (save his birthplace Michigan, where he sailed to a narrow win on the historic coat-tails of his father and the promise of billions in corporate welfare for the automakers).

The true, stalwart, traditional conservative choice is Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee has survived Florida and is poised to make huge gains in the “true” Southern states on “Super Duper Tuesday.” Huck has pledged to stay in “through the Ninth Inning” and all social conservative should be cheering his resolve.

Huckabee is the only candidate who can unite traditional conservatives.

Huckabee is the only candidate who can wield social conservative delegate power at the GOP Convention.

Huckabee is the only candidate with the rhetorical skills, good humor and likeable personality to make traditional conservatism competitive in the fall election.

Huckabee, like Ronald Reagan, has made tough choices as a governor, yet has remained fundamentally true to his traditional conservative principles. Unlike Bishop Romney, Huckabee hasn’t had to reinvent himself to curry favor with any electorate. Unlike “Mitt-the-Flip,” but like Reagan, Huckabee’s not forced to explain at every turn inconsistent statements or actions on bedrock social conservative issues.

Romney’s only role at this point is as a spoiler.

Romney can siphon support, drive wedges, and preview attack ad scripts for the Democrats in the fall, but he cannot win either the nomination nor the general election.

He is not the ideological candidate for “movement conservatives” – notwithstanding all of the free and paid cheerleading from the Eastern conservative elites– because at his core, Romney is a “process” candidate, not a man of conviction.

Unlike Reagan, Romney has no great record of conservative thought, conservative leadership, or conservative governance.

His obvious commitment to situational ethics demonstrates that Romney has no ideological “soul.” Romney’s candidacy isn’t about advancing conservative principles – it’s about advancing Mitt Romney to his next self-aggrandizing “to do” in his Palm Pilot. It’s about giving Mitt another trophy . . . another take-over . . . another “conquest.”

John McCain is the mature candidate for realpolitik.

McCain is a realist, grounded in the Reagan tradition but not hidebound by it. He is a rock-solid social conservative. He’s an honest, straight-talker who is motivated by a strong commitment to national service. He will be a hard man to beat.

A two-man race between Mike Huckabee and John McCain would best serve both the GOP and Reagan conservatives. Such a race would focus on policy, not personal attacks. It would give social conservatives the best opportunity to retain the White House in 2008 and to obtain judges who would return to a strict construction of the Constitution. A McCain-Huckabee contest would forever diffuse charges of anyone trying to buy their way into office. It would immediately moot virtually all of the anti-GOP stereotypes embodied by Romney. It would be a race between two modest, committed, experienced and CONSISTENT conservatives (albeit McCain a skoach more moderate than Governor Huckabee). It would be the prelude to healing the deep rifts now growing within the GOP.

Now that Romney has bought more data on his lack of marketability, it’s time for him to be honest with himself (if he can be) and to follow the honorable course of Rudy.

Mitt, you can’t buy love and you can’t buy the White House.