At this point, it is highly unlikely that anyone but McCain will win the GOP nomination. He has a commanding lead and lots of momentum. In spite of Huckabee's stumping, the language being used now by both McCain and GOP leadership indicate that they are treating him as the presumptive candidate, and are now focusing on reuniting the party behind McCain.
Pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter need to tread carefully here. Romney said he was suspending his campaign because minor party disagreements pale in comparison to the fundamental ideological disagreements the GOP faces vis a vis the Democrats, and he recognizes the importance of presenting a unified front. As things stand right now, in a theoretical head-to-head campaign, McCain would defeat Clinton and is within just a couple of percentage points of Obama. The Democrat battle promises to be long and hard-fought, and may not be revealed for another two or three months - time McCain has to find a running mate, solidify his platform and raise money.
Limbaugh and Coulter are screaming bloody murder about McCain. He's not conservative enough, they say. He's too soft on immigration and didn't back Bush's tax cuts enough, they say. He didn't back the Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. These are cardinal sins to them, enough that they're threatening to try to form a third party or encourage voters to vote for Clinton or Obama. This is sheer lunacy on their parts. Think about it for a moment: they're threating to vote for someone with whom they disagree about everything because they're throwing a hissy fit about someone with whom they disagree about some stuff. That's real brilliant, there.
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Is McCain a "for sure"? I'm not entirely sure. It's about singing fat ladies. First of all, We look at McCain himself. He was dead, washed up last summer. Has-been. Good-bye, John. Now he's all but crowned.
BUT, in beating Romney he showed a nasty side. Nobody liked Romney, because Romney isn't likable (not hateable either, but not likable). OTOH, Huckabee is really nice guy, humorous and capable of poking fun on the stump. SO, do we want the mean, grumpy old guy or the nice Baptist preacher. If you want to recall the ghost of Reagan, Huckabee comes closer in that respect. And heroic endurance in the Hanoi Hilton 35 years ago won't always erase yesterday's bad taste.
So I'm not sure we can count McCain in and Huckabee out yet.
Whether Huckabee is really ready for prime-time is another question, of course. GW is also nice guy.
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