1008 REASONS FOR HUCKABEE TO KEEP FIGHTING

Hugh Hewitt has finally seen the light. Hewitt, one of talk radio's most emphatic Romney-ians, now realizes that the Gucci chameleon, “Slick Willard” Mitt Romney cannot win the GOP nomination.

Hallelujah!

All of this stupid, irrational, emotional talk about “suicide votes” and staying home and conservatives voting for liberal Democrats because “Rush said” it’d be better for the country to crater under Clinton/Obama ignores the main objective.

It's simply childish.

Adults know that politics involves the give and take toward getting the best deal possible on a particular day, and then fighting on for a better deal tomorrow. Politics isn’t about achieving the “perfect.” It’s about gaining a series of comparative advantages and leveraging power toward common goals.

Reagan – the venerable saint of modern conservatism – understood this. He was on the national stage from 1964 until 1980 fighting for conservative ideas before he was elected to a position where he could act upon them on a national scale. But Reagan never quit like a spoiled child when he didn’t win.

Hugh Hewitt finally realizes this as well. The GOP better get united . . . fast.

A McCain/Huckabee ticket would be the BEST way to do it. McCain is strong in the West, Northeast and with moderate/independents. And Huckabee is a solid traditional conservative and a great communicator. Outspent probably 10-to-1 Huckabee vanquished Mitt-the-flip Romney in Iowa and the deep South on the strength of mere enthusiasm. Such enthusiasm is in short supply in the GOP ranks these days.

Of course both McCain and Huckabee need to do very well before CPAC this week.

The alternative to GOP unity is unthinkable for TRUE conservatives.

Allowing Clinton or Obama to appoint as many as 4-5 young "living constitution" liberals to "lifetime" appointments on the U.S. Supreme Court and to stock the balance of the federal judiciary with rabid ACLU/NOW activists and hand-picked cronies of trial lawyer John Edwards as a consequence of a pre-school temper tantrum against McCain is analogous to dropping a hydrogen bomb to retaliate against an occasionally “disloyal” friend.

It would take decades to unwind such a disaster.

Helping Hillary or Obama lose the war in Iraq and thereby empowering Iran, encouraging a comeback by radical Islamofascism, and creating chaos in the Middle East merely to teach John McCain a lesson is like burning down your house to kill a cockroach.

SERIOUS THOUGHTFUL CONSERVATIVES can see ANY of the Republican candidates are vastly preferable to Hillary/Obama.

When all the hoopla over racial/sex "identity politics" has subsided, thinking Americans will realize this danger.

Conservatives (including Rush) need to "grow up" and dial back the internecine rhetoric.

Romney -- because of his caustic, scorched-earth approach to this race and his almost messianic appeal to certain sectors of the “suicide voter” right -- needs to step back and stop hammering wedges into the GOP. As long as Romney pretends he can win and feeds uncertainty about McCain’s and Huckabee’s conservative bona fides, Romney remains an agent of chaos and disunity.

It's time for Mitt to Quit.

But what about Governor Huckabee?

Governor Huckabee is not as divisive a figure in the GOP.

He’s not spending millions and millions on attack ads. He’s campaigning for a positive, hopeful agenda. He's resisting the urge to "go negative" (so much so that the Romney-ian "hive" falsely claims Huckabee has some sort of "unfair" "Survivor" alliance with McCain). Some have said, he’s a “happy warrior.” Huckabee staying in the race does not adversely affect GOP unity nearly as much as Romney does.

More importantly, there are 1008 reasons for Huckabee to keep “answering the bell for each new round” of the primaries.

As of the end of Super Duper Tuesday, some news sources calculate that there are 1008delegates to be selected.(Other sources put the number available at 963) McCain needs about half of them to win on the first ballot. Only 99 of the remaining delegates are from winner-take-all states.

Thus, neither Romney nor Huckabee have been mathematically eliminated yet. However a win by either of them would take huge shifts in the GOP electorate. Romney or Huckabee would have to take in the neighborhood of three-fourths of all remaining delegates to win outright. And both would have to win in places where they’ve thus far been uncompetitive. Here’s the list of primary delegates still to come:

9-Feb Louisiana 47
9-Feb Washington 40
9-Feb Kansas 39
12-Feb Virginia 63 Winner Take All
12-Feb Maryland 37
12-Feb D.C. 19 Winner Take All
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 3316-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

Without winner-take-all, Huckabee can rack up his share of delegates, even if he doesn't win a whole state. But it also means that McCain can hold off challenges by taking pluralities of the vote.

A negotiated convention (formerly known as a “brokered convention”) remains a remote possibility. In that scenario, it would be critical for Huckabee to control as many delegates as he possibly could to leverage the best outcome for true social conservatives.

Even if there isn’t any drama at the GOP convention, its 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 important to the future of traditional conservatism for Huckabee to appropriately position himself for a second White House bid (and to cripple Romney’s 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 remains the best nominee for traditional, consistent conservatives – if that’s not possible-- a strong Huckabee is a great asset and insurance policy for GOP unity and victory in the fall.