Ground Game

How long will John McCain’s alleged surrogates (Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee) stay in the race, and can McCain be a nomination contender without their help splitting the vote away from Mitt Romney? Those questions are pressing in the conservative blogosphere today, with an abundance of exit poll information highlighting McCain’s weak showing so far with voters in his own party.

We won’t likely know the answers to those questions for a while. An equally perplexing question: Why do conservatives, so troubled by the notion of gay rights, have so much love for the gay metaphor?

In a piece that describes Huckabee as a “McCain-Lover,” the Politico’s Jonathan Martin asks:

Could Huckabee be angling for the No. 2 spot on McCain’s ticket, or a Cabinet position in a McCain administration?

Seems like a stretch to me. Huckabee may like the idea of a vice presidential nod, but how would that really benefit McCain, who is already struggling with lukewarm base support? And just what cabinet position would Huckabee be both qualified for and interested in?

Nonetheless, Rick Lowry looks at Huckabee’s efforts to take down Romney and rides the homoerotic metaphor wave:

Huckabee has verged into man-crush territory with McCain and can be counted on to call any attack on him unfortunate and unfair.

Patrick Ruffini leaves the awkward metaphors alone, and instead focuses on some difficult numbers for McCain.

Meanwhile, Ryan Sager, lost in a sea of writing clichés, finds some interesting numbers as well.