It
looks like Mike Huckabee - who won 41% of the vote in Virginia's 2008 Republican presidential primary - will not be the Republican nominee for president in 2012...or probably ever.
... his connection to a suspect in the shooting deaths of 4 Pierce Co., WA, police officers could prove a major hurdle if he chooses to get back into politics. Huckabee granted clemency to the suspect in '00, leading some to call the lifelong criminal Huckabee's version of Willie Horton.
Huckabee's office issued a statement late 11/29 deflecting blame, calling the suspect's release the "result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system." But it appears Huckabee didn't grant clemency without pushback: "This is the day I've been dreading for a long time," Pulaski Co. (AR) prosecuting atty Larry Jegley told The Seattle Times yesterday. That makes one wonder if Huckabee was urged not to sign the papers, raising questions about his judgment in the face of prosecutors' objections.
Add the horrible crime committed by a man he released to a statement this weekend, in which Huckabee said he is "less likely rather than more likely" to run for the WH in '12, and Pres. Obama's first potential foe looks to be effectively out of the race.
Now, this all may not be fair, but it's political reality nonetheless. You simply can't run for president with this kind of thing hanging over your head. So, with Huckabee almost certainly out of the running for 2012, what are the implications for the already weak Republican field? Does this clear the way for Mitt "Finger in the Wind" Romney? Does it increase the odds for ultra-right-wing populist Sarah Palin? Does it open the door to a young social conservative like Sen. John Thune? What about Pat Robertson's Manchurian Candidate, aka Bob McDonnell? Other? Who do you think will fill the vacuum left by Mike Huckabee's almost-certain political demise?
