Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Huckabee Donation Drive

The Hucakbee for President campaign has a donation drive scheduled for Thursday, 28 February. The purpose of the drive is to fatten the coffers as we head into the GOP primaries slated for Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont next Tuesday.

“Firewall,” meaning a must-win situation, has become a popular term this campaign season. This upcoming group of contests probably amounts to that for Governor Huckabee, as John McCain can virtually assure himself of the Republican nomination with a good showing. Even so, Huckabee has vowed to remain in the campaign until such time as McCain has the nomination mathematically locked up.

Besides which, I think that it is good to have someone through which the party's base can put McCain on notice regarding his leftward tendencies - and having Huckabee draw protest votes may serve McCain well in the end by forcing him back toward the center on a few high-profile issues (or perhaps not).

Regardless, Huckabee is calling on McCain to participate in a “Lincoln-Douglas” style debate prior to next week’s primaries, though the latter has refused. Even if I find McCain’s position annoying, which I do, as a practical matter he is entirely correct to dodge any
tête-à-tête with his nearest rival. McCain occupies the commanding position with regard to delegates and is the presumptive nominee; he has nothing to gain and much to lose by debating Huckabee at this point – so he is not going to do so.

Finally, thanks again to Jamey Loftin for letting us use the “Moose Room” at the Locos Grill and Pub on Barnett Shoals Road to view primary returns on Super (Duper) Tuesday. Check out the picture of Nathan and Avery in the Banner-Herald.

Sphere: Related Content

2 comments:

Ben said...

I just wonder what the point is in raising money for a candidate that cannot win or McCain debating a candidate that cannot beat him

Anonymous said...

In a strictly mathematical sense, Huckabee is not out of the race yet (though I realize he probably soon will be). Even so, I think that it is useful for the GOP base to demonstrate to McCain, be it through their votes and/or contributions, that he cannot simply assume their support in the general election campaign.

Though I would like to see the two of them go at it insofar as airing policy differences is concerned, I fully recognize that McCain has no practical incentive whatsoever to debate Huckabee at this point.