Ace says not to nominate another liberal"compassionate conservative" Republican for president.

And do we really want a man who was completely unaware of some of the biggest foreign policy news of the week?

I really think that a Huckabee nomination would result in some kind of third-party or independent run, by someone.

[Update in the early evening]

But not by Mike Bloomberg. By someone who actually has some sense of libertarian/conservative principles.

In fact, it strikes me that most viable third-party candidates are "centrists" (assuming for the sake of the argument that political positions really are simple enough to put on a one-dimensional left/right scale) who attempt to appeal to the so-called moderates (John Anderson, a liberal Republican in 1980, being a representative example).

In this case the cause for a new entrant wouldn't be a perception of polarization, but from a sense that there was little choice between the two candidates. I mean, if you're a Democrat, what's not to like about Huckabee, other than his position on abortion and guns? I can imagine that in a Clinton/Huckabee race, he might very well pull a lot of the Democrat vote. Most Republicans would vote for him purely out of an antipathy to Hillary!, albeit while holding both nostrils tightly shut. He may, in that sense, be the most electable "Republican."

The question is, if a true conservative ran, how much would he take from Huckabee? Would it be like Perot (who wasn't really a conservative--he didn't have any coherent beliefs whatsoever), who took enough votes from Bush to give the election to Clinton? Or would a charismatic conservative candidate manage to get a majority, and split the Dems between the two liberal candidates?

I don't know, but this promises to be one of the most interesting (and probably depressing, for a classical liberal) elections in my lifetime. My guess is that Huckabee won't get the nomination, for many reasons, like the ones that started off this post.

Maybe more than one extra body.

Ron Paul's entire attitude screams "I'm running anyway dammit" to me.

Yep, and I think the MSM hyping of both Huckabee and Paul is in an attempt to give both of these opposing corners of the republican candidate a rallying point to abandon the party--if we can spread out the republican vote enough, Hillary can win despite negatives that virtually guarantee less than 50% of the vote.

Here in Washington State, I wouldn't call the 'Ron Paul Support' as any corner of the Republican's turf.

At least judging by the bumperstickers that are in close proximity to a RP sticker. There's the 'No Iraq War' ones, of course. But there's a boggling number of RP stickers on cars that also have stickers for previous races by Kusinich, Kerry, Gov. Gregoire. (And Amnesty International, Sierra Club, Free Tibet, you name it.)

There's also a small building on Westlake that was one of the Kerry & Co's local organizing areas - you'd regularly see Kerry signs for twenty blocks up and down this main drag. Now there's RP signs. Replaced with the same fervor.

Down in the dumps over the presidential election? You need a Fred Head bumper sticker to answer the aggravating bumper stickers that are on the other cars.

I know this classical liberal will be voting for Hillary if Huckabee gets the nomination. If we are going on the road to hell paved with good intentions, I'd rather a liberal democrat be leading the charge and getting the blame. I will never vote for a man who raises his hand when asked who doesn't believe in evolution.

On the subject of 3rd party candidates and spoilers, the conventional 1 man 1 vote just doesn't deal well. I'd like a ballot where for each candidate I could vote do I or do I not support this candidate for the office.

"I will never vote for a man who raises his hand when asked who doesn't believe in evolution."

I have heard some stupid reasons to vote or not vote for a particular candidate before, but that ranks as one of the stupidest.

"I have heard some stupid reasons to vote or not vote for a particular candidate before, but that ranks as one of the stupidest."

Really? Why? I think having a grasp on reality should be something everyone expects of their President. How someone uses there mind is something I consider important. What criteria do you use to evaluate a candidate?

In light of the recent news articles showing Huckabee responsible for letting a serial rapist out of prison and having that man murder two women soon after, I as a REPUBLICAN would vote for Hillary over Huckabee. I have daughters and I don't need someone in office who would let some maniac harm them in any way, shape or form just for his own political gain. Huckabee is SCUM

Huckabee would not have had that man released if not for Clinton Derangement Syndrome, aka CDS, which fueled his release, working something like this: If a Clinton associate or relative says they were raped, it's obviously a lie, i.e. unless they claim to have been raped by Bill or Hillary, in which case of course it is true.

CDS is clearly a more malignant disease than BDS.