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.

Hey, Weren't Republicans Supposed to be the Religious Ones?

Just asking...

If one were to ask certain observers of American politics, they would probably be told that the American Republican party was at the forefront of mixing religion in politics.

Much has been made about George W Bush's religiosity. "Concerned parties" everywhere objected to Mike Huckabee and his belief in creationism. Some have even insisted that the combination of Christianity and conservative politics has put the United States on the road to fascism.

So if this is the case, and Republicans are so religious, and this is such a bad thing, why is it that the Republicans' presumptive presidential nominee barely mentioning religion at all, and the remaining nominees for the Democrat nomination battling it out on the topic of religion?

In fact Clinton and Obama made a direct appeal to religious voters at a weekend debate at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's Messiah College.

Meanwhile, John McCain has remained remarkably quiet about his religious beliefs (for the record, he's an Episcopalian-turned-Baptist), to the extent that the Evangelical community -- another target of "concerned parties" and traditionally a reliable source of support for Republicans -- is largely split over whether or not they'll support him.

Right now if religion is much of an issue for anyone in the 2008 Presidential campaign, it's the Democrats. Yet there seems to be remarkably little criticism of this particular religious turn, and the worst criticism seems to be directed at Clinton and Obama by one another.

One has to wonder where the "interested parties" are on this particular matter. But then again, one is hardly surprised, either.

No Surprise Here: Mac is the Man

McCain clinches presumptive nomination

After dominating Republican primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island, John McCain has finally clinched victory in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

"I am very, very grateful and pleased to note that tonight, my friends, we have won enough delegates to claim with confidence, humility and a great sense of responsibility, that I will be the Republican nominee for president of the United States," McCain announced.

And now that McCain finally has the 1,191 delegates needed to win the nomination -- and then some -- Mike Huckabee has finally bowed out of the race.

"We've kept the faith," Huckabee said. "And that for me has been the most important goal of all. I'd rather lose an election than lose the principles that got me into politics in the first place."

"It's now important that we turn our attention not to what could have been or what we wanted to have been, but now what must be -- and that is a united party," he added.

With McCain all but assured the Republican nomination and all the remaining primaries before the GOP convention rendered little more than formalities, Americans can rest assured that the 2008 presidential election will be anything but dull.

Now McCain can focus on maintaining his momentum leading up to the beginning of the campaign -- although it'll prove to be an uphill battle considering that the still too-close-to-call contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will continue to claim the lion's share of media coverage.

Obama, Huckabee Draw First Blood

But super sunday will tell the tale

After months of nail-biting anxiety, the United States presidential primaries have kicked off.

Republican Mike Huckabee claimed a crucial first victory on the first primary of the season, the Iowa straw poll. Barack Obama beat out his Democrat competitors.

Obama won the support of an impressive 38% of Iowa voters, while Clinton and John Edwards claimed 29% and 30% of the vote, respectively. Huckabee won 34% of the vote, with Ames straw poll winner Mitt Romney settling for 25%. John McCain, who left Iowa for a jump-start on the New Hampshire poll, tied Fred Thompson with 13%.

Already, candidates have begun to abandon their campaign, as Democrats Joe Biden and Chris Dodd have both elected to drop out of the race.

Things are about to get very interesting.

Although claiming a first win is a crucial feat, the Presidential picture will likely remain murky until the February 6 "super Tuesday" primaries, when California, Alaska, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Conneticiutt and Delaware all go to their caucuses.

In the meantime, however, the race will begin to take on its first signs of political intrigue, as New Hampshire, Nevada, Michigan, Florida and South Carolina will all have held their own primaries. As victories are claimed and other candidates realize they can no longer win, support will inevitably be lent to other candidates. Things will get interesting as people begin to speculate what price has been paid for the endorsements of drop out candidates.

Even for those who rarely pay attention to American politics, the coming months will most certainly make them sit up and take notice.

First blood has been drawn in the race to determine who will contest the 2008 presidential election, but the show's only begun.

Tonight's the Night, This is It

Iowa straw polls happen tonight

For those paying attention to the long campaign for the American Presidency, and for those select few with dreams of becoming President of the United States, the long wait has finally ended.

The Iowa straw polls kick off tonight, with the New Hampshire primary to take place in five days' time.

This is where the rubber hits the road.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Mitt Romney will win the Republican poll. He won the Ames straw poll in August. However, Rudy Giulliani, Fred Thompson (then an undeclared candidate) and John McCain chose not to spend money in that particular contest, deciding to wait until the cards were really on the table.

Tonight, they are.

In Iowa, Mike Huckabee actually holds a six-point lead over Romney, while the other Republican candidates poll at eleven percent or less.



Meanwhile, Barack Obama leads Democrat candidates with 31%, while overall frontrunner Hillary Clinton trails John Edwards 24% to 27%, respectively.



In short, neither race is over just yet.

Even beyond Iowa, looking next to the New Hampshire primary, Hillary Clinton and John McCain claim narrow leads over their competitors.

Yet, as the primaries proceed, and the cards fall where they may, the question of who will contest the 2008 Presidential election will only become clearer.

Tonight's the night. This is it.