Clemency suggests

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McCain embarrassed in Kansas

James Forsyth

Saturday, 9th February 2008

It isn’t a major blow but the McCain camp will be irritated by losing so badly to Mike Huckabee in the Kansas caucuses. Huckabee’s 60 percent to 24 percent victory shows both the support that he has among evangelicals and other Christian conservatives and the task that McCain has ahead of him in winning them round. It also means that Huckabee is unlikely to drop out of the race anytime soon meaning that McCain will have to wait a while to get his general election campaign underway.

This result crowns Huckabee’s emergence as the most important Christian conservative in the Republican Party. Before this nominating process began, many would have given that title to Sam Brownback. But Brownback’s presidential bid fizzled, largely because of Huckabee’s success in out manoeuvring him in Iowa, and now the Kansas Senator has failed to deliver his home state for John McCain who he endorsed back in November.

Huckabee’s success suggests that Christian conservatism is most potent when mixed with a dash of economic populism. Huckabee has shifted decisively ahead from the Republican orthodoxy on economics and used to love tweaking Mitt Romney’s tail about how rich he was while railing against the idea that the Republican Party should be a ‘wholly owned subsidiary of Wall Street.’

Even if Huckabee is not picked as VP he has established himself as a major force in the Republican Party. McCain will need his support in November and Huckabee has likely earned himself a major speaking spot at the convention.