Tuesday, February 05, 2008
McCain/Huckabee Screw Romney in West Virginia
The headlines will say that Mike Huckabee has won the first state of Super Tuesday, West Virginia.
As in many cases, how we got to that result is the real story.
Keep in mind that West Virginia uses the convention method to select their winner. (Think of it as one big caucus.) Joe Schmo voter isn't there; party activists are the primetime players.
In a preliminary vote, Romney was out in front by a good margin, and McCain was bringing up the rear. McCain's strategists got together and decided to allign themselves with Huckabee's supporters. When the vote was taken that counted, McCain's people voted for Huckabee. This gave Huckabee just enough to beat Romney by a margin of 52% to 47%.
I suppose it's a moral victory for Romney to garner 47% of the votes on his lonesome compared with the 52% for the remaining 2 candidates. However, no delegates are rewarded for moral victories in winner-take-all states like West Virginia. Huck gets all 18 delegates.
A few people like Roger Abramson think that McCain/Huckabee as a ticket just isn't going to happen. I happen to be one of those conspiracy theorists that believes in a deal already struck. Huckabee will stay in and syphon off votes from Romney until the outcome is foregone. To do that, he needs a reward from McCain, and I doubt that we're talking about some Cabinet post.
Ah, democracy at its finest!
Romney shouldn't be surprised, though. McCain has more than a little history of screwing Republicans.
UPDATE (4:21 P.M.): A.C. has a link to LewRockwell.com that adds to the story. Apparently, Ron Paul operatives are as sleazy as John McCain operatives.
As in many cases, how we got to that result is the real story.
Keep in mind that West Virginia uses the convention method to select their winner. (Think of it as one big caucus.) Joe Schmo voter isn't there; party activists are the primetime players.
In a preliminary vote, Romney was out in front by a good margin, and McCain was bringing up the rear. McCain's strategists got together and decided to allign themselves with Huckabee's supporters. When the vote was taken that counted, McCain's people voted for Huckabee. This gave Huckabee just enough to beat Romney by a margin of 52% to 47%.
I suppose it's a moral victory for Romney to garner 47% of the votes on his lonesome compared with the 52% for the remaining 2 candidates. However, no delegates are rewarded for moral victories in winner-take-all states like West Virginia. Huck gets all 18 delegates.
A few people like Roger Abramson think that McCain/Huckabee as a ticket just isn't going to happen. I happen to be one of those conspiracy theorists that believes in a deal already struck. Huckabee will stay in and syphon off votes from Romney until the outcome is foregone. To do that, he needs a reward from McCain, and I doubt that we're talking about some Cabinet post.
Ah, democracy at its finest!
Romney shouldn't be surprised, though. McCain has more than a little history of screwing Republicans.
UPDATE (4:21 P.M.): A.C. has a link to LewRockwell.com that adds to the story. Apparently, Ron Paul operatives are as sleazy as John McCain operatives.
Labels: 2008 GOP Presidential Primary
Permalink posted by Rob Huddleston @ 2:34 PM 
Comments:
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This is all pure supposition and not fact. Question? How did Mike Huckabee and McCain steal the other southern states like Tennessee and Georgia? BTW saying that Huckabee and McCain have "screwed" Romney and making slanderous statements is not very Christ-like...you did say you were a Christian didn't you?
Mary Ellen
Mary Ellen
Mary Ellen -
I stand by the allegations. I have no reasons to doubt my sources in West Virginia regarding what happened there.
I didn't mention anything about Tennessee and Georgia. You did. But since you brought it up, Christians there were sold a bill of goods. There are good parts and there are bad parts of every voting block, and in the Christian community, there exists a sizeable group that will vote for the candidate who comes off as the most Christian. That was Huckabee here. Plus, low GOP voter turnout certainly helped Huckabee in both states that you mentioned.
As for my choice of language, perhaps you should be more careful with your own. Slander is spoken defamation, while libel is written. That being beside the point, I challenge you to point to any defamatory language. Your charge, Mary Ellen, is legally significant, so if you can't do so, I suggest you withdraw your comment.
Cheers,
Rob
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I stand by the allegations. I have no reasons to doubt my sources in West Virginia regarding what happened there.
I didn't mention anything about Tennessee and Georgia. You did. But since you brought it up, Christians there were sold a bill of goods. There are good parts and there are bad parts of every voting block, and in the Christian community, there exists a sizeable group that will vote for the candidate who comes off as the most Christian. That was Huckabee here. Plus, low GOP voter turnout certainly helped Huckabee in both states that you mentioned.
As for my choice of language, perhaps you should be more careful with your own. Slander is spoken defamation, while libel is written. That being beside the point, I challenge you to point to any defamatory language. Your charge, Mary Ellen, is legally significant, so if you can't do so, I suggest you withdraw your comment.
Cheers,
Rob
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