New Hampshire’s “silver lining”

The “Live Free or Die” people of the Granite State have spoken their mind concerning Presidential candidates, and Mike Huckabee only squeezed out a third place finish.  So, is this bad news?  Ummm, not so much!  There are silver linings in them clouds, my friends.

First, looking back at Iowa, can you even imagine Mitt Romney spending $8 million+  against Mike Huckabee’s  less-than-a-million and all he gets is a second place finish?  That’s crazy.  And it’s not like Huckabee just barely beat Romney, it was 34% to 25%.  Ouch.  The magnitude of this accomplishment cannot be overstated.  The point here is that Romney is nowhere near as strong as was expected, and Huckabee is way stronger than anyone would have guessed.   

Now New Hampshire has come and gone.  This time Romney gets beat by John McCain?  First, I must say that I think John McCain is an amazing man.  From serving the United States in the military, to his heroic POW experience that included him refusing a special privileges deal that would have released him with less than a year of captivity (he would eventually be captive for over 5 years before being released), to years of public service that finds him willing to go against the flow to stand up for what he believes.  John McCain is a truly unique man. 

But the reality is that he’ll be 72 years old by election time.  For some, this may not be an issue, but I don’t want someone this old as President facing the turbulent future that seems to be just around the corner.  His acceptance speech in New Hampshire, which found him having to refer to the written notes continuously and still stumbling along a bit, reflected the reality that he is far past his prime as a leader.  And then there’s also that pesky problem that he often times seems to be more of a Democrat than a Republican. 

Yet, given these weak points of McCain, Romney and his bags full of cash still couldn’t beat him.  Even more of an issue when you realize that Romney governed right next door to New Hampshire, and even has a summer home there.  Ultimately, this past week seems to tell us that America just really isn’t all that interested in having Mitt Romney as President.

This leads us to the big silver lining that comes as a result of Romney’s two silver finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire.  Romney just isn’t a strong contender for President.  And McCain, while he has done well in New Hampshire, there just isn’t much reason to seriously think the majority of Americans will overlook the thorns on his rose and want to send him on to battle the Democrats in November.  This is where Huckabee shines.  He is still running a rising campaign as evidenced by this national Gallup Poll just out that again has him as the number one Republican in the national race with 25%.  Hello?  This is the candidate that has spent less than $2 million so far for the ENTIRE campaign, and he is in the lead!  BTW, that same poll has Romney at just 9%.

The future is indeed bright for Mike Huckabee, and I look forward to the next 4 weeks as we see possibly the most amazing and important race for the Presidency in all of modern times.

GO MIKE GO!

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Martt Clupper 1.09.08
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