Dallas Cowboy Legend Endorses Mike Huckabee

Dallas Cowboy Legend Cliff Harris endorsed former Arkansas Governor and Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, it was announced today.

Huckabee said: "I am truly excited to have Cliff Harris on my team and appreciate his support. It means a lot to have the greatest athlete in the history of my alma mater wearing my jersey."
Harris, who played in five Super Bowls and six Pro Bowls, said: "Mike Huckabee is a true conservative champion. I hope voters all across Texas will join me in rallying behind Mike on March 4th."

"Many told me I would never play in the NFL, let alone win a Super Bowl ring or two. Similar cynics may say the same thing about my friend, and fellow Ouachita alum Mike Huckabee, becoming President. Let me remind everyone: in America, anything is possible as long as you work hard and stand for the right things. The key to success is to always keep going and never quit. That is exactly what Mike Huckabee has done his entire life," said Harris.

Behind the Party Curtains: Why We Need Mike Huckabee!

This is one of the finest analysis of the election so far.

Why Huckabee Can't Drop Out

A funny graphic going around the Internet these days shows Senator John McCain and Governor Mike Huckabee in full debate mode. McCain says, "Since all of the moderates in the country have endorsed me, I think you should drop out of the race and let me fool the Democrats!" Huckabee replies, "Since all of the moderates in the country have endorsed you, I think conservatives should be able to vote for me."

This strikes at the heart of why Mike Huckabee seems to dig his heels in when operatives within McCain's campaign and the Commentocracy urge him to quit before voters in 20 other states have been heard. Huckabee clearly is not following any conventional political instincts in his decision to remain in the race until someone clinches the nomination. Instead, he's listening to the most vocal chorus of more than two million supporters who have yet to participate in the electoral process. Huckabee is the only means conservatives have of conveying a simple message to McCain: "If you want to be our nominee, earn it."

The political party bosses front loaded the nominating process to give moderates a better shot at bringing forth an early nominee from their ranks. Unfortunately, they didn't count on the presence of a strong and motivated conservative base this election cycle. Their hopes of repackaging Mitt Romney as a conservative fell flat -- none of his conservative views were realized before he opened his campaign headquarters. Romney is so prone to ideological fluidity that he originally endorsed Mike Huckabee, withdrew that endorsement so he could run, and then did a 180 kick-flip to grind his way into the McCain camp. Suddenly, McCain went from geriatric ultra-liberal to a national hero and man of substance. Such is the character of the people who occupy the highest rungs of the GOP ladder. While many conservatives were fooled into supporting Romney, thanks to an almost hysterical two-week rant from Talk Radio, a remnant of serious conservatives stood their ground, voting for Huckabee and for Fred Thompson. McCain's divide and conquer strategy proved more effective than Giuliani’s firewall in God's Waiting Room.

Even if the conservative remnant were foolish enough to fall for Romney's multiple personality disorder of a campaign, he didn't have a chance against McCain. Just before Romney dropped out, the math told the story: McCain at that point had 53% of delegates and everyone else combined had 47%. Pundits and historians will fiddle with facts for generations to come, but the bottom line is that the "Anybody but Romney" vote far outweighed the "Anybody but McCain" vote. The Establishment would have been happy with either man, since their objective is to have a moderate who can appeal to some Democrat constituency. They closed ranks behind the more liberal McCain as soon as he sowed traction. What better Republican to run against liberal Democrats than one who has supported them more often than his own party? If it was only about power and winning, this would be a slam dunk. Unfortunately, some of us still look for something intangible – like core convictions. Romney had none and McCain’s are fundamentally wrong for conservatives.

Huckabee, and to a lesser degree Fred Thompson, provided conservatives with an alternative "anti-Establishment" vehicle. The GOP Establishment and NeoLib conservatives had no way of anticipating that the conservative base had finally reached the tipping point of refusing to be the GOP's step 'n fetchers for yet another election cycle. The 2008 election cycle is proving to be a pivotal moment for traditional conservatives. Instead of staying home in droves as they did in 2006, conservatives may well bolt the party altogether if the rift is not healed soon. It cannot be healed by efforts to crush Huckabee's Quixotic insurgency. MEMO To McCain Camp: Huckabee's supporters aren't going to support you until the last delegate has voted at the convention. Even then, much rests in the person who will run with McCain. Without a real conservative on the ticket, all of the geotargeting in Huckabee's strong districts will not pursuade the political burn victims on the right.

Less than a month ago, GOP insiders were salivating over the possibility that a young and charismatic Democrat named Barack Obama would be crushed by the Clinton Machine in the most cynical and abusive way, putting a disillusioned African-American voting block up for grabs. The Perfect Storm of Bill Clinton's racial slurs and Obama's lack of gravitas did not come to fruition. Democrat Party bosses reined the former President in and many African-American leaders closed ranks behind Hillary -- for a few hours. In spite of his weakness as a potential leader of the free world, Obama's growing popularity is allowing him to ride a wave of feel-good 60's type Democratic politics -- possibly all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

What it means.

The GOP needs their base back. Even if Hillary is the Democratic nominee, Al Gore and other party leaders are trying to make an amicable end to the Democratic Party's current nominating disaster. The Democratic nominee will be poised to wage a generational battle of their Young Liberal against the GOP's Old Moderate. Conservatives need not show up. McCain cannot be recast as a conservative with any more credibility than Romney was. Without the Get Out the Vote efforts of disenfranchised Social Conservatives, McCain cannot win. He would be a fool to pick Romney or any other moderate as his running mate. He may not be thinking of Huckabee with any warm fuzzy feelings right now, but he needs to make a credible overture to the new generation of Social Conservatives. Establishment "OnceCons" like Gary Bauer, Pat Robertson and Phyllis Schlafley have no credibility speaking to this constituency. Their endorsements of “any elephant”, including moderates, over the past twenty years has proven that their loyalty is with pragmatic politics and not movement conservatism.

Conventional wiseguys tell us this new Social Conservative movement is uniting around the impossible hope that Huckabee could emerge as a standard bearer in a brokered convention. They are short sighted and shallow in their analysis. What is happening is a united effort among SoCons to take their place at the table -- even if they have to scorch the tablecloth in the process. If conservatives are not given an opportunity to vote their conscience and the GOP loses in the Fall, the fault will not be their intransigence. It will be the end of their 40 year journey of discovery that people of principle can never throw in with people of power and expect to come out with a clear conscience. The last few primaries will be their final feeble attempt at conveying this message to the moderates who run the party. It can be a reunion song or a breakup song.

John McCain and his OnceCon apologists are calling the tune.

Blog Link

Mike Huckabee is in to Win!

"I am seeking the Presidency because I care deeply about important issues facing America—Life, Marriage, the Fair Tax, the Second Amendment, American Border Security and Sovereignty. I am as committed to those issues as I ever was, and my campaigning around the country has convinced me that the majority of Republicans want me to continue to fight for these and other conservative causes. So I will.

I know all about the rumors swirling around. That's why I just went on national news show this afternoon, to knock those rumors down. I am still in this race. As I have said all along, I am in this race until someone gets to 1,191 delegates. That has not happened yet, and so I will keep campaigning for the Republican nomination. Period. That’s my ironclad commitment to my supporters."

- - Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee Keeps on Rolling !

Conservative Icon Paul Weyrich Endorses Huckabee

Cofounder of the Heritage Foundation Endorses Huckabee

I believe that the voters in this Republican nomination contest—here in Virginia and across the country—deserve a real choice. And Governor Huckabee is clearly the conservative alternative. He is the best choice, and he is my choice. So I am voting for him on Tuesday, here in Virginia.
I don’t buy the idea that John McCain is a true conservative. Nor do I buy the idea that Mike Huckabee should get out of this contest. The people in the Potomac area—Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. In addition, we have many important states coming up, including my home state of Wisconsin. Folks in all those states deserve a choice a real choice.

I had been a supporter of Mitt Romney, but now I am very glad that Governor Huckabee has decided to stay in the race. I appreciate that he is staying in, just as I appreciate that Governor Huckabee and Senator McCain are not going at each other’s throats—a vigorous debate about important issues is the healthiest thing possible for the Republican Party.Governor Huckabee has articulated some very clear differences with Senator McCain: on immigration, on McCain Feingold, and also on the McCain Lieberman global warming scheme. Mike Huckabee is much more solid on the social issues, including right to life. Yes, Senator McCain says that he has a right to life record, but he can’t be supportive of embryonic stem cell research and have a clear right to life record, because the right to lifers, including me, want to protect all life, from conception of natural death.

Governor Huckabee is also good on marriage, insisting that it be limited to one man and one woman. Unfortunately, Senator McCain refused to vote for the marriage amendment.
These are important differences.

By voting for Governor Huckabee, people will be telling Senator McCain and the Republican Party establishment that they better accommodate these conservatives and their heartfelt beliefs, or else they the GOP will not be able to win the general election this November. Like Governor Huckabee, I have great respect for Senator McCain, but he and his Republican Party backers have to make sure that they accommodate the base of the Republican Party.

If they don’t, Senator McCain may find that the conservative grassroots won’t turn out to vote this November. I know my fellow conservatives. I have been active in the conservative movement since 1960. I was an early supporter of Barry Goldwater, and I was a delegate for Ronald Reagan in 1976 and 1980. And so I remind all the Washington DC-oriented political strategists that outside-the-beltway conservatives don’t have to vote for every candidate if they don’t want to. They can stay home, or they can skip over some candidates. That is a very real possibility this year. I have had hundreds of people that have contacted me, telling me, “I can’t vote for McCain.”

I hope that Senator McCain will accommodate those people, for the sake of the conservative movement, as well as the Republican Party. But to repeat: I am voting for Governor Huckabee.

The Republican Party must reach out to social conservatives, like me, and so Mike Huckabee is solid. But Mike Huckabee also appeals to working people. The Republican Party by and large ignores the concerns of these people, especially when they are hurting. Governor Huckabee is the only candidate who has consistently reached out, during this campaign, to those who are hurting. It’s great for the GOP hierarchy to say that the fundamentals of the economy are sound. But it’s even more important to concentrate on real people, and to look for sound conservative solutions. Mike Huckabee is one of them by his own background, and so naturally he listens to them. By voting for him, millions of ordinary Americans will make their voice heard, loud and clear.

I call upon all my fellow conservatives to get out and support Governor Huckabee. A big vote for him is the best way to send a message to Senator McCain and the Republican Establishment that this is an election, not a coronation.

###
Paul Weyrich is the Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation. The opinions expressed here are his own.

Vote for Mike Huckabee at Hannity.com

Just wanted to encourage you all to go to www.hannity.com

There is a poll there that asks if Huckabee has a chance at pulling this off.
Please go vote.

Let's show Mr Hannity and the other Status Quo Folks that we are a movement to be taken seriously.

By the way, I have sent my last dollar to any organization Gary Bauer is involved in. By endorsing McCain over Huckabee he revealled his true allegience.

VICTORY in Kansas!

With Huckabees victory in Kansas, voters send McCain a message
By STEVE KRASKE and JIM SULLINGER
The Kansas City Star

Mike Huckabee’s win Saturday in Kansas’ Republican presidential caucuses was complete, dominant and never in doubt.

In swamping presumptive GOP nominee John McCain 11,627 to 4,587 votes, or 60 percent to 24 percent, Huckabee swept 104 of the state’s 105 counties. In that final county, Trego in western Kansas, Huckabee and McCain tied at 15 votes each.

The win gave Huckabee all 36 delegates that were on the line for the GOP National Convention in Minneapolis this summer.

“It’s a big win for Huckabee,” said Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University in Topeka.

----
Matthew Pennell, Huckabee’s state coordinator, said he expected the former Arkansas governor to win Kansas, but not by the margin he rolled up.

“Personally, I didn’t think we would carry the 3rd District, but we did and pretty overwhelmingly,” he said.

Fred Logan, a former GOP state chairman and a KCTV-5 political analyst, said McCain’s crushing defeat amounted to a setback for U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican who endorsed McCain after ending his own presidential bid last year.

“I think this is less of a rebuke of McCain and more of an embarrassment to Sam Brownback,” Logan said, adding that Brownback had recorded an automated phone message for his Senate colleague.

A little more than 20,000 Republicans turned out for Saturday’s caucuses, a total that was either a few thousand above what was expected or a few thousand short, depending on which GOP official was citing numbers and whether the forecasts came before or after Romney exited.
Turnout in Johnson County surpassed expectations, with big crowds reported at several sites.
“So much for Republican voter apathy,” said Christian Morgan, Kansas GOP executive director.

Full Article

Mike Huckabee Wins Louisiana!

Get ready for a miracle! Huckabee Elecifies CPAC

“Miracle” Mike Huckabee Electrifies CPAC Crowd, Vows to Stay in Race
by Fin Gomez
Washington, DC-

On the flight from Kansas to Washington D.C. late last night Mike Huckabee was talking to members of his inner circle about the big expectations for his speech today at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual gathering of conservatives in the Nation’s Capitol.
“The pressure is on, ” Huckabee said to his staff, smiling. For the remainder of the flight ,he was left alone, as he worked on the text of the speech.

Huckabee was right, the expectations were astronomically high for his address. Mitt Romney, supported by many of the establishment conservatives at this meeting, had dropped out Thursday, and the GOP presumptive nominee, John McCain, is far from a favorite son for many at this conference, who still resent McCain’s defeated immigration reform bill . Not only did Huckabee have to convince those in attendance about meeting their conservative standards(that some like the Club for Growth had questioned) but he had to defend what many consider a quixotic attempt to continue campaigning even as McCain continues to amass delegates, 719 to Huckabee’s 198.

So as he stepped up to the podium today, the lingering question , hovering above the crowd, was could he do it?

If the loud audience reaction is an accurate indicator, then yes, Huckabee delivered today.
Hitting his mark, he emphasized the issues that resonated well with the several hundred cheering conservatives in the room:
Pro-traditional marriage, pro-life stance, border security, all Republican platform benchmarks, and with Huckabee’s argument for each, the audience roared with approval,and regular standing ovations.

Huckabee also took the opportunity to say that, despite McCain’s colossal lead in delegates, he had no plans to bow out.

“I know the pundits, and I know what they say, that the math doesn’t work out.Folks,I didn’t major in math,I majored in miracles, and I believe in those,” Huckabee said to cheers. “Am I quitting? Let’s get that settled right now. No, I’m not.” The crowd waved signs, and chanted: We like Mike… We like Mike.

Huckabee then concluded with a story from a supporter from Kentucky who had recently lost her house in the tornadoes that ravaged the South on Tuesday.

“Despite damage to her home there was one thing that was pretty remarkable,she had a Mike Huckabee yard sign..when the tornado had gone through,standing pristine, without a hint of damage, or even meaning,was that yard sign.”Huckabee continued, using the image asn an analogy for his campaign.”Across America, everywhere there is still a vote to be cast, I am still standing.”

Mike Wins Kansas!

Mike Huckabee won the Kansas Republican caucuses Saturday, demonstrating the lingering rift in the party after rival John McCain was minted the clear front-runner Super Tuesday.

Kansas was the first of four states to hold contests for both parties Saturday. Final results showed Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, with 60 percent, compared to 24 percent for McCain, the Arizona senator. Texas Congressman Ron Paul had 11 percent.

Huckabee captured all 36 of the delegates to the Republican National Convention from Kansas, according to The Associated Press. Another three delegates are party leaders who attend the convention no matter whom they support, and two of them have endorsed McCain.

James Dobson Endorses Mike Huckabee!

AP Breaking News: Evangelical leader James Dobson to endorse Mike Huckabee for GOP presidential nod

By ERIC GORSKIAP Religion Writer
James Dobson, one of the nation's most prominent evangelical Christian leaders, is about to endorse former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee,the Associated Press has learned. Dobson, founder of Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Focus on the Family, talked to the GOP presidential hopeful Thursday and later was to release a statement explaining his choice, said Gary Schneeberger, a spokesman for Dobson.

Huckabee had long sought Dobson's endorsement, believing he is the best fit to advance Dobson's conservative, moral worldview.

Huckabee Supporters Reaching Out to Romney Supporters

Huck's Army releases the following press release after Romney's departure from the race:

HUCKABEE GRASSROOTS TO ROMNEY SUPPORTERS:
GIVE MIKE ANOTHER LOOK.

Huck's Army troops: Huckabee's conservative credentials are real! McCain will struggle to beat Hillary or Obama in the South -- Huckabee won't.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The 17,000 grassroots "troops" of HucksArmy.com are encouraging Gov. Mitt Romney supporters to take another look at Huckabee. They have set up a welcome and question and answer forum at http://forum.hucksarmy.com where Romney and Huckabee supporters can interact.

"Although many have been misinformed, we really believe that Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney have similar credentials and conservative positions," said Lucas Roebuck, Public Affairs Officer for HucksArmy.com.
NO TAX INCREASES: Both Huckabee and Romney signed the Americans for Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge. John McCain has not signed the pledge (atr.org).
ENERGY INDEPENDENCE: Both Huckabee and Romney have said energy independence is vital for American security and would make it a top priority of the administration.
GUBERNATORIAL EXPERIENCE: Both Huckabee and Romney believe that the experience of being governor is most beneficial when preparing for the presidency. Romney was governor for a term in Massachusetts; Huckabee was governor of Arkansas for over a decade.
SECURE THE BORDER NOW: Both Huckabee and Romney opposed amnesty. Both support getting the Mexican/American border fence done in the first months of the next president's term.
SANCTITY OF LIFE: "We must promote a culture of life," said Romney. No candidate has done more to promote life than Mike Huckabee, according to the National Right to Life PAC.

Huckabee supporters also believe Huckabee is the most electable GOP candidate at this point.

"Republicans don't win if they don't carry the south," Roebuck said. "McCain may be polling well in national polls, but how will he do against an Obama or Clinton in the critical Southern states? Both Barack and Hillary have a unique appeal to the South that only Huckabee can negate.

"If Obama is the candidate, Huckabee's oratory excellence will be critical in national Republican debates."Huckabee is clearly the best GOP debater," Roebuck said. "He's the one who will be able to face down the siren rhetoric of Obama in the general election."

About HucksArmy.com
With core values of faith, family and freedom, HucksArmy.com is an online grassroots movement not owned or operated by any candidate or political campaign. With more than 17,000 recruits, HucksArmy.com is dedicated to mobilize support for candidates who honor God and country.

Mitt Romney Suspends Campaign

This just in from CBS, Mitt Romney is ’suspending’ his campaign for the White house.

Romney had tried to portray the race for the Republican nomination as a two way race. He had attempted to sideline Mike Huckabee, and portray himself as the alternative to McCain. On Super Tuesday however, Huckabee had a very good showing and vowed to stay in the race until the end. This effectively ended Romney’s hope for beating McCain. He would have needed 3/4 of the delegates left and cannot afford to split them with Huckabee.

This now gives Huckabee a fighting chance to top McCain. Huckabee has polled very well in Texas, by far the biggest prize left. He is also in good position in Virginia and Mississippi.

Either the Republican Elitist are Wrong or they are Wrong

Posted by: Michael Medved

To explain the startling success of Senator John McCain in the fight for the GOP presidential nomination, talk radio hosts and columnists who loathe the Arizona Senator cite an alleged split on the conservative side between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. According to this reasoning (explicitly advanced by Laura Ingraham, Hugh Hewitt and many others) if only Huckabee withdrew as a candidate, Mitt Romney could unite conservative cadres and pull out an upset victory on Super-Duper Tuesday.

Of course, Huckabee won’t leave the race (in at least six of Tuesday’s state contests he’s running well ahead of Romney) and the argument that he should rests on distorted history and illogical assumptions.

Some of my fellow commentators on the right seem to believe that the minority “moderate” wing of the party has united behind McCain because they had no other candidate, and the much larger conservative base in the GOP fatally split its votes among a number of once-viable alternatives.

These conclusions are flat-out wrong--- both about the party’s ruling conservatives and its remaining moderates.

WRONG ABOUT CONSERVATIVES
To believe that Huck and Mitt are dividing conservatives, you have to believe that Huckabee is a conservative --- which Romney, Limbaugh, Igraham, and countless others have been denying (stridently and strenuously) for months. Romney spent millions on negative ads in Iowa trying to label Huckabee as a liberal RINO—slamming him as soft on immigration, soft on crime, a big spender, a tax hiker and so forth (the same sort of attacks that they’re now applying to McCain). Fred Thompson pronounced Huckabee a “pro-life LIBERAL” and Rush delivered daily diatribes about how the former Arkansas governor was not “a conservative.” So, has Huckabee now suddenly morphed into a true conservative just to give Romniacs an excuse for the failure of their guy to rally the rightwing base?

Either the elite commentators were wrong when they labeled Huckabee a “liberal populist,” or they are wrong now when they say he’s stealing conservative votes from Romney. The only other alternative is that they view conservative voters as just too stupid to see Huckabee for what he really is.

As to the idea that rock-solid, true-blue Reaganites were divided by too many candidates on the conservative side of the party, where’s the evidence of that?

It’s true that a lot of candidates tried to rally the base but most of them (Tom Tancredo, Sam Brownback, Duncan Hunter, Tommy Thompson, Jim Gilmore, Alan Keyes) got absolutely nowhere.

Nor did Fred Thompson (who co-sponsored McCain-Feingold, and compiled a voting record virtually identical to McCain’s during his years in the Senate) draw significant conservative support that hurt Romney. In Iowa, where Huckabee smashed Romney by nine points, Thompson and McCain tied for third. Did Thompson really take more votes away from Romney than McCain took away from Huckabee? In South Carolina, Thompson again finished third – and Romney finished fourth. Even if every one of Fred’s votes had gone to Romney, their combined total still would have fallen 3% (40,000 votes) behind McCain.

WRONG ABOUT MODERATES
But the analysis is also dead wrong that says that McCain’s been winning because he had moderate voters all to himself while conservatives divided their support among several candidates.

Through the entire campaign, Mac has had to compete for moderate or centrist Republican voters (and independents, in those primaries where they could vote) with Rudy Giuliani. Unlike McCain, Rudy has a long background as a moderate on issues like abortion, gay rights, and gun control, where Mac has been solidly conservative. Rudy also ran ahead of McCain in virtually all polls last year, and raised triple the money the Arizona Senator managed to put together. At one point, Rudy held the polling lead in South Carolina, and was competing with Mitt Romney for the lead in New Hampshire and Michigan and Nevada.

In other words, it makes no sense to say McCain had moderates to himself while Mitt had to struggle with other conservatives – especially since Rush, Sean, Savage, Laura and countless others relentlessly labeled Huckabee as a “moderate” or a “liberal,” who would be competing for those votes with Mac and Rudy, rather than drawing conservative votes from Romney.
In Florida, McCain’s victory was all the more impressive because Rudy was a powerful factor – investing far more resources into the state, and drawing more votes (15% to 13%) than Mike Huckabee. In other words, even if you assume that Huck and Mitt split conservatives (a very dubious assumption, as noted above), then Giuliani took even more votes away from McCain. Just for the record, the allegedly “moderate” vote in Florida (McCain plus Giuliani) totaled 51% while the allegedly “conservative” vote (Romney plus Huckabee, PLUS Fred Thompson’s 1%) totaled 45%. In other words, even if you combine the votes for all the purportedly “conservative” candidates it doesn’t provide enough support to top the “non-conservatives” who backed Mac and Rudy in a very high turn out primary.

Here’s the SLAM DUNK regarding the stupid argument that if only Huck dropped out, Mitt would surge to victory:
All of the three major national polls taken in the last three days (Fox News, ABC/Washington Post and Gallup) show that even if every single voter who backs Huckabee, switched to Romney (an impossibility, of course), McCain still wins across the country. The numbers, if you’re interested, of McCain supporters vs. the combined total of Romney and Huckabee supporters --- 48 to 39% (Fox News), 48 to 40% (ABC News/Washington Post) and 43 to 42% (Gallup). Meanwhile, all indications are that for many of the Huck-a-nuts—perhaps even a majority – their second choice would be McCain, not Romney.

WRONG ABOUT McCAIN
If you can’t explain McCain’s success by arguing that there’s been a big split among the party’s conservatives, then how can the Senator’s critics come to terms with his surging campaign?
Maybe they ought to recognize the obvious – they’re wrong about Johnny Mac and his appeal.
In state after state, Exit Polls show McCain drawing substantial backing among self-described “conservative” voters. It’s true that he’s weaker with such Republicans than among so-called moderates, but he’s strong enough (drawing over a quarter of conservatives, consistently and reliably, in the divided field) to indicate that many conservatives are simply ignoring the howls from talk radio that McCain is a secret liberal.

Sure, Ann Coulter claims that Hillary Clinton is “more conservative” than McCain, and says that she plans to campaign for Hillary (won’t that be fun?). But who knows the Arizona Senator better – Ann C. (who has very possibly never met him) or the solid, conservative Senate leaders (Tom Coburn, Johnny Isaakson, Saxby Chambliss, Richard Burr, John Kyl, Trent Lott, Phil Gramm, John Thune, Norm Coleman) who’ve worked beside McCain every day for years and have come forward to endorse him for the nomination? These guys earn nearly perfect voting records from the American Consrvative Union--- Trent Lott, for instance, got a lifetime 92% (even better than McCain's 82.3%), but he vouches for his long-time colleague as a solid, courageous pro-life conservative. Fred Thompson had a less consistent conservative record than Lott (86%) and very close to McCain's, and yet commentators readily embraced him as a "consistent conservative."

As to Mitt Romney, he is certainly a good man and a good candidate and a strong standard bearer for conservatives. Those who back Mitt deserve respect, and should proudly work hard for their guy on Tuesday.

But don’t pretend that McCain is only winning because divisions among conservatives have allowed some squishy moderate to sneak to victory.

It’s true that conservatives are divided in the upcoming primaries.

Some (perhaps a plurality) back Mitt Romney, a strong conservative
.
Some back Mike Huckabee, a strong (though much maligned) conservative.

And some of us back John McCain, as the strongest and most consistent conservative in the race.

May the best man win.

Mike Huckabee's Five Smooth Stones

We are in this race to win despite the desperate efforts by the Romney campaign to try and say that "a vote for me is a vote for McCain". Actually, a vote for me is a vote for me!

We have outlasted Rudy, Fred, and others who were supposed to be the winners. Only 8% of the Republican delegates have been selected, and we have about the same number of delegates as McCain or Romney. We are in it to win.

The Romney campaign knows this and they are running scared.

So far the media has with a few exceptions, been content to sell this sham of a story to their viewers and listeners. You would think that under this coordinated assault, we would be sinking in the polls nationally.

Not so. FOX News has us tied with Gov. Romney in 2nd place nationally in a new poll of registered voters.

What's more, in Tennessee, Georgia, Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas and Oklahoma, recent polls have us in first or tied for first.

We can win. We will win.

To close this gap from 2nd to 1st and shock the pundits, and more importantly our rivals, I need your immediate financial support. I am counting on you as I always have, because you are the five smooth stones in my pocket.

Make an immediate contribution of $25 or more today and watch us soar. (Use the Ranger Button above)

I am counting on you for victory.

With deepest gratitude.

Mike

From the Editor: I am raising my goal to $5,000. Too much is at stake! Give NOW!

Huckabee: This is an interesting video by Politico

It's About Delegates: Huckabee is still in play!