I suspect this was the last thing that Mike Huckabee thought would happen; Mitt Romney endorsing John McCain.
I had actually been contemplating the effect of Romney’s endorsement earlier this week. I saw it as the one thing, prior to sometime in late April or maybe May, that could call Huckabee’s bluff about remaining in the race. Huckabee has been continuing to say he was in the race not for himself but to make sure that people had a vote. Even though the math showed that Huckabee had a slim or nothing chance of winning he would reply with a pat answer, “I know the pundits and I know what they say — that the math doesn’t work out,” he said. “Folks, I didn’t major in math, I majored in miracles, and I still believe in those too.”
If this announcement proves true and Huckabee still remains in the race, all the kids on “Are you smarter than a fifth grader?” will be able to do the math! If Huckabee does not bow out, it will show his true colors; he’s in it for his ego and to sell books.
It’s the votes. According to CNN, and excluding Wyoming (which only recorded how many delegates each candidate got), Huckbaee got just over 2.82 million, while Romney got just under 4.30 million. While Huckabee does by all rights have 2nd in the delegate count locked up, he still needs about 1.48 million votes (plus whatever Romney still gets) to pass Romney.
It’s kind of hard to call oneself the “next in line” if one is well behind second place in the vote count.