Novak: McCain Won't Pick Huckabee

Forget Mike Huckabee as a running mate for John McCain, his closest supporters say -- there's no chance he'll be on the GOP presidential ticket.

So writes veteran political columnist Robert Novak, who reports that political insiders close to McCain's presidential campaign "have put out the word that there is absolutely no chance that his last remaining major opponent for the GOP presidential nomination, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, will become McCain's running mate."

Novak explains that McCain personally likes the former Arkansas governor, and his campaign hasn't wanted "to antagonize Huckabee's evangelical supporters, whose backing will be needed in the general election," adding that he "is unacceptable to economic conservatives."

"The immediate problem that Huckabee poses for McCain strategists is how to get him out of the presidential race without offending him," Novak explains.

While Huckabee cannot possibly get enough delegates to win the GOP nomination, he remains the elephant in McCain's room, worrying his campaign "by threatening to win an occasional state, as he did recently in Kansas." Moreover, Novak notes that Huckabee "attempted to upset McCain in Virginia, though McCain wound up winning the primary there by a comfortable nine points."

Novak, however, fails to mention what may be the McCain camp's real anxiety over Huckabee's remaining in the race: fear over a brokered convention, possibly overturning the primary results.

In a Feb. 14 e-mail to supporters, Huckabee stressed that possibility, writing: "A few weeks ago, I stood at Chuck Norris' ranch before a crowd of people and said that Texas would be the place where the dynamics of this race changed dramatically in our favor.

"Since then, after winning West Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas and Louisiana and fighting close races in Washington, Oklahoma, Missouri and Virginia we have positioned ourselves to do just that."

He goes on to explain his goal of creating a brokered convention, a possibility that could throw the nomination wide open not just to him and McCain, but others:

"Remember the Republican nominee must have 1,191 votes to claim the nomination or else there will be a brokered convention where the party's top candidates will have an opportunity to make an impassioned plea as to why they are the best choice to represent the Republican Party in the fall against the Democratic candidate.

"Before we get to a brokered convention however we will need to win Texas and seize the momentum. For this to happen however, we must have your immediate financial support. We are laying it all on the field in Texas and we need you to join us."
Huckabee is tied within the margin of error in Texas with McCain according to the most recent polls. Perhaps there is still a glimmer of hope that McCan't will be defeated in a brokered convention after all.