Huckabee Determined to Stay Put

Republican candidate Mike Huckabee raised questions regarding John McCain's victory in the Washington caucuses. Senator John McCain, declared the winner, won 26 percent of the votes, as against Huckabee who won 24 percent. In a statement, his campaign has said that it would examine possible legal options relating to the results.



Huckabee's campaign chairman, Ed Rollins, criticized Luke Esser, Washington's Republican Party chairman, for hastiness in declaring McCain the winner. He pointed out that Huckabee was losing by 242 votes, when 87 percent of votes were counted. He alleged that approximately 1,500 were not counted, terming it an "outrage."

Huckabee lawyers, Rollins said, would examine whether there were any lapses in the counting process. He said, "It would be a disservice to every voter in Washington State to not pursue a full accounting of all votes cast." He reiterated the campaign's decision to go to court."... we are prepared to go to court," he said, adding, "we are also prepared to take our case all the way to the Republican National Convention in September." Esser responded by saying, "If they can provide me with anything of substance to ask about, we'll be happy to inquire."

Huckabee, who won 36 delegates in Kansas and went on to win the primary in Louisiana, hoped that his performance would drive the elections in Maryland and Virginia on Tuesday. As of yet, however, McCain, enjoys a long lead over Huckabee.

Huckabee said he was amazed by Saturday's results, where, though he won delegates, he was short by 50 percent in Louisiana. This was the minimum he required to claim the available 20 delegates. These are to be awarded at a state convention to be held during the coming week.

Rejecting the validity of any hypothesis at this point, Huckabee said, "The Democrats haven't settled their nominee either, so for us to suddenly act like we have to all step aside and have a coronation instead of an election, that's the antithesis of everything Republicans are supposed to believe." He also said, "We believe competition breeds excellence and the lack of it breeds mediocrity."

Huckabee has expressed his intention to fight on until a candidate has managed to win the 1,191 delegates that are required to secure a nomination from the party. It has been pointed out that he may never be able to secure this number of delegates.

However, Huckabee seems undaunted. Speaking to "Face the Nation" on CBS, he stated, "This country was built on the impossible. It's impossible that I'm still in the race. That's what most people would've said a few months ago." He also said, "In politics so many things can happen that can change the landscape overnight. A candidate can say something, do something, and everything can change."

Responding to questions about McCain choosing him for the post of Vice President, he said, "I'm not going to be asked. I think it's pretty evident that there would be a whole lot of people on the list long, long before me, and one of them would say 'yes'."

He also said that he hoped to surpass expectations, when reminded that McCain was poised to win the Maryland and Virginia primaries on Tuesday. "I think we'll get a nice little bump out of what happened in Kansas," he responded.