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Huckabee VP balloon floated Wednesday, May 14, 2008 By David J. Sanders Monday was full of speculation about Mike Huckabee's more immediate future. U.S. News and World Report got things started with a story about an unnamed John McCain fundraiser who reportedly spilled the beans that Huckabee wasn't just a contender for the No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket, but that he was at the top of McCain's list of potential vice-presidential nominees. The fundraiser was reported to have received his information from those who are in McCain's inner circle. As luck would have it, Bob Novak reported the same day in his syndicated column that as Team McCain tries to make nice with the Evangelical Christians, the campaign is unsure if Huckabee would be more of a help or a hindrance to the base-sewing-up effort. The uneasiness stems from questions surrounding Huckabee's potential to be less concerned with McCain's chances in 2008 and more focused on mounting his own comeback in 2012. Novak relayed a recent conversation he'd had with a "creditable" religious-right type who'd claimed to have first-hand knowledge that Huckabee bought into the idea that Obama as president might be what Americans deserved. Despite some of his backers having made similar arguments, Huckabee has denied sharing such sentiments. (Speaking of denials, Monday brought out a recent admission by Ed Rollins, a former Huckabee campaign adviser, that the mysteriously floating cross that had appeared in Huckabee's Iowa campaign commercials was, in fact, done on purpose. Of course, back in December when the ad ran, Huckabee and his aides denied at the time that anything was purposely done to illuminate the cross.) That said, publicly the McCain campaign is pleased to have Huckabee's support and endorsement. Nonetheless, Novak's reporting is in keeping with something I reported a few weeks ago - that some of Huckabee's backers predicted a McCain loss in November, which would create a vacuum Huckabee would then fill. When both stories are coupled together it gives the impression that something is going on. According to one source close to Huckabee, he claimed that all of the talk of the vice presidency and Huckabee's role on the campaign appeared to be a trial balloon. But who was floating it - Huckabee and his overzealous supporters, or the McCain campaign? Another Huckabee supporter said Monday afternoon that all of the VP talk was not being perpetuated by Huckabee, and that any of this speculation about the two men's potential future was coming out the McCain campaign. Political types both in Little Rock and Washington claim there is a little horn tooting coming from the Huckabee group. So why is he being considered? According to the U.S. News piece, Team McCain sees Huckabee's Christian populism, mixed with his tireless campaigning, as potentially helping McCain with Southern social conservatives and working-class voters in the Rust Belt. Huckabee's empathy for those who suffer is supposedly another plus, especially at a time when voters face so many economic pressures. It's thought that Barack Obama's high tax philosophy might cause Huckabee's negative record on taxes, which hurt him in the GOP primary contest, to fade by comparison and make him more acceptable to economic conservatives. As running-mate selections go, there are usually several trial balloons sent up. Some pop, others are blown away; eventually a few hold steady and of those, only a few are well received. So how might it work out for Huckabee? Could he be the choice for McCain that makes the most sense? That's still up in the air. ------- David Sanders writes twice weekly for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock and is a host of the Arkansas Education Television Network's "Unconventional Wisdom." His e-mail address is DavidJSanders@aol.com. |
