Oh-eight (R): Contesting WA

Posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 9:00 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Republicans

“A longstanding alliance of convenience and admiration between John McCain and Mike Huckabee has exhibited its first fissures after Huckabee announced plans to contest McCain's weekend victory in Washington state's caucuses.”

The AP: “The Washington state Republican Party released additional results late Monday from last weekend's presidential caucuses, and declared Arizona Sen. John McCain the winner once again. ‘It's clear to me that Sen. McCain was the winner of the precinct caucuses,’ state party Chairman Luke Esser said in a conference call with reporters late Monday night. ‘Now let me clarify about that that the precinct caucuses are the first step of a three-step process and it's not clear at all yet how many Washington State delegates he'll end up with.’ … With 96 percent of weekend results in, Esser said McCain had 3,191 precinct delegates (25.6 percent) to Mike Huckabee's 2,898 (23.3 percent) - a difference of just 293.”

HUCKABEE: What does he do next? The Wall Street Journal, "Looking further ahead, Mr. Huckabee could make a strong showing in Texas, as he has in many other Southern states, where his campaign is beginning to send staff. His team's rationale: Mr. Huckabee now stands to scoop up all the support from the most conservative voters in the party."

"Huckabee aides aren't optimistic about winning any of the states in Tuesday's primaries, though they are competing hard in Virginia, and further losses make it closer to mathematically impossible for Huckabee to win the GOP nomination."

MCCAIN: In addition to picking up an endorsement from Jeb Bush yesterday, McCain also nabbed the backing of Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

The DNC is up with a new video of McCain on Iraq.

PAUL: Third party alert? Maybe not, but Ron Paul said he won't endorse McCain. ‘I cannot support anybody with the foreign policy he advocates, you know, perpetual war. That is just so disturbing to me,’ Paul said in a Monday telephone interview. ‘I think it's un-American, unconstitutional, immoral and not Republican.’”

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Comments

This is boring. Where is news about Obama?! I voted Sunday in Maine and you would not believe the turn out. I waited outside under falling snow for an hour to get in, then four hours more inside before I could vote. Now I am fired up and ready to go! The Republicans are irrelevant.

Amy B Portland, ME (Sent Tuesday, February 12, 2008 9:10 AM)

McCain is just like Bush. His approval rating in the general election will probably be the same as Bush's. Until he denounces Bush's policies,he doesn't have a chance. Yet, he keeps on saying how great Bush is and how his policies are wonderful. I saw Bush on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace in which he said that Obama isn't worthy to be president. Excuse me, is Bush worthy to be president? I think not, and probably 70% of American citizens don't think so either. He sounded like a Republican partisan instead of the president of the entire United States. Excuse me, Mr. Bush aren't those from the "Democrat" party also part of the America that you are supposed to be governing? According to Bush, only those from the "Republic" party are Americans, what are the rest of us (Democrats, Independents, etc)- not Americans? He is shameless. A true president would have said I will not make my judgement based on the party affiliation of the candidate, but one who will be the best person to serve this nation. Instead, he basically says that Democrats are wrong because they don't agree with thim. He is a republican, not a president to all citizens of the US. What a despicable person. Actually, Obama is more worthy than Bush will ever be. I think Obama will be the president to all citizens, not just those of one party. John McCain is the same.

Treena, NJ (Sent Tuesday, February 12, 2008 9:11 AM)

a choice between a doddering war mongering fool or a religious hukster, not much of a choice!!

bush NOT (Sent Tuesday, February 12, 2008 9:26 AM)

McCain still peddling fear, and Huck too, just much more deviously. The biggest single step we could take towards stopping the threat of terrorism would be to demonstrate to the rest of the world that we ARE a decent and moral people by convicting George W Bush and his accomplices of their many crimes and putting them in prison. So long as the U.S. has a foreign policy of bullying everyone who is different from us (not Baptist?), things won't change.

JohnnyU, WA State (Sent Tuesday, February 12, 2008 9:33 AM)

Keep thinking that Amy B, keep thinking that...

Joe Tn (Sent Tuesday, February 12, 2008 9:58 AM)

I agree with Ron Paul on this one. As a conservative life long republican I cannot vote for McCain. I respect the man but he has far too many shortcomings in my opinion.

Ron Paul has had foresight about our economy and our foreign policy. The two are inseparable. We can fight terrorists with focus and determination without occupying the planet and bankrupting this nation.

I hope conservatives finaly open their eyes and really look at our candidates. Ron Paul has been misrepresented and marginalized and that is a real shame. He is called 'isolationist' when in fact he is a non-interventionist. There is a vast difference in the meaning of these terms. Ron Paul wants to talk to everyone, trade with everyone, have diplomatic relations with everyone. But we only bomb people if congress declares war. This means the people want war and take responsibility for it and win it. This means that if America is attacked we will rain down hell on those who did it, but in a focused more strategic way.

When it comes to fiscal conservatism and the economy, if given a chance you would see that Ron Paul is the ONLY man, possibly the only person in high office that truly has a grasp of these problems. McCain and Huckabee fall well short on these issues, be it taxation, the cost of illegal immigration, our monetary policy and the cost of our fereign policy.

I hope to god that all of you real conservatives wake up or we are going to have a democrat in the white house for at least the next 8 years. I for one cannot imagine the economic chaos they will unleash upon us. Republicans and conservatives cannot afford to loose this election. We need Ron Paul now more than eveer!

Dan Warner (Sent Tuesday, February 12, 2008 10:09 AM)

Obama and Hillary criticize the war but they advocate a interventionalist foreign poilicy. This policy is exactly what got us attacked on 9/11 and is bankrupting the country. Ron Paul is the only candidate even willing to debate monetary policy which will destroy our country faster than any terrorist enemy combatants. If China was building military bases over here we would be shooting. Why is this such a foreign idea to the masses? My opinion is that the mainstream media is grossly distorting the facts to cover for the military-congressional-industrial complex. Non-intervention is a conservative/Christian/Republican message. Do unto others...Hello! Is this thing on?

Ryan Scott, East China, Mi (Sent Tuesday, February 12, 2008 7:28 PM)

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