Richard Whalen

Mike Huckabee, the former Governor of Arkansas and a distant runner-up for the Republican presidential nomination, sees no reason why he should drop out and concede to the frontrunner, Senator John McCain. So what if McCain has 723 delegates to Huckabee’s 217. Huckabee believes in “miracles,” he says in the Nation.

Why is the folksy, likeable Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher, continuing his campaigning and fund-raising? Huckabee is the youngest (51) of the three remaining Republican candidates – McCain is 71; Paul is 72 – and is an impressively disciplined man. While governor, he shed over a hundred pounds over two years by following a strict diet and exercise regimen to prepare for the present race and his introduction to millions of television viewers who had never heard of him.

“The nomination is not secured until somebody has 1,191 delegates,” Huckabee told CNN. “That has not yet happened. We’re still continuing to work and to give voters in these states a choice.” And the fact that he gave McCain a run for his money in Virginia shows the Republican Party’s desire to have a choice.

Some Republicans worry that the longer Huckabee stays in the race, the harder he makes it for McCain to make amends with skeptical conservatives. Others, such as GOP pollster Whit Ayres says that “as long as Huckabee stays positive and …does not stimulate a third-party challenge from the right,…he could actually help McCain.” I disagree.

The dream vs. reality: Doug Bandow, a former aide to President Ronald Reagan and a leading libertarian conservative, attended the 2008 Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Arlington last week, and witnessed McCain being booed by angry conservatives. “These conservatives are extremely angry; there was real hatred in that room. They haven’t accepted McCain as their presidential candidate – and probably never will.”

Pat Buchanan, writing in The American Conservative calls McCain’s coming nomination “The Great Betrayal” and quotes McCain the Sunday before the Florida primary: “It’s a tough war we’re in. It’s not going to be over right away. There’s going to be other wars. I’m sorry to tell you….” Pat concludes: “McCain is running on a platform that says your jobs are not coming back, the illegals are not going home, but we are going to have more wars. If you don’t like it, vote for Hillary.”

If McCain stumbles before he wins the nomination, I can think of potential anti-McCain scenarios under the definition of “miracles” that could stop or defeat McCain including a bolt from the Republican Party by conservatives bent on running an anti-McCain third party candidate long before the September 1-4 convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The divisions and bitterness are now so deep that such a departure is becoming a real possibility. Would Huckabee be available? You better believe it.