Attention Must Be Paid
Some last thought for the evening:
The biggest surprise, that shouldn’t have been a surprise, is Huckabee. I have touted his charm and humor and how important the beer test of likability is in America (Not that as a Baptist preacher he’d drink the beer). He didn’t simply siphon votes away from Romney; he won votes in his own right (or should it be “rite”?)
He is now in a position to make demands of McCain (who may be stoppable after all). He might even be a plausible conservative alternative to McCain—except for the fact that true-blue party-line conservatives find him to be too liberal.
The really important data from Super Tuesday is that McCain won in states the Republicans have little chance of carrying in a general election; while Huckabee won in states they can and must carry. This is a very powerful position to be in for Huckabee. Republicans who want to win, well, in the words from Death of a Salesman, “Attention must be paid.”