Huckabee for VP?

Mike Huckabee and John McCain looking awfully close on the campaign circuit

For the last several weeks, Senator (and presumptive Republican Presidential nominee) John McCain has been touring a number of the United States' economically depressed regions.

On Thursday, McCain was in New Orleans, where a Republican finally owed up to the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina.

"We know we didn't have the right kind of leadership ...where government agencies were getting information from watching cable television rather than have a flow of information," McCain announced. "It was not only a perfect storm as far as its physical impact ... it was a perfect storm as far as the federal, state and local governments' inability."

On Friday, McCain was in Mike Huckabee's home state of Arkansas. Huckabee, the final contender vanquished by McCain, was there with him.

It's far from surprising. When withdrawing from the race on 4 March, Huckabee pledged his support for McCain. "I believe that Arkansas will not only support Sen. McCain but will help him to become the next president of the United States. And I certainly pledge my every effort to help do that," he announced.

Ever since McCain clinched the nomination, there's naturally been a good deal of talk regarding who will join McCain on the Republican ticket as Vice Presidential nominee.

McCain and Huckabee seemed very chummy, at one point mock-arguing over who would pay for sandwiches (for the record, Huckabee paid and McCain left the tip).

Reading between the lines suggests that there may be more to McCain/Huckabee than mere speculation.

One of the things Huckabee was taken to task for most was -- oddly enough -- his religion.

If Huckabee were named Vice Presidential nominee, Huckabee's religion problem would almost certainly become McCain's problem. McCain seemed to head some of that off at the pass when he addressed Barack Obama's Reverend Jeremiah Wright problem. He announced it would be "a little bit presumptuous to ever assume that just because the pastor says something on the pulpit that everyone in the pew agrees with it. That's rarely the case."

On an embarrassing appearance on WWE Monday Night Raw McCain noted that "to be the man you have to beat the man". Huckabee couldn't beat the man, but could still be the man for the job.

At the end of the day, however, one shouldn't ask McCain and Huckabee about it. They're not saying anything, leaving this a question that may not get answered until the Republican National Convention.