Does Huck staying in the race help or hurt the Democrats??

[kentuck]

I think that is the question we should ask, rather than, does he help or hurt John McCain? In the end, I believe the Republicans will join hands and support their nominee. How could he hurt the Democrats? As we know, McCain's weakest group is the Evangelicals. Huck keeps their agenda on the forefront. By doing so, he forces McCain to address the issues they are concerned about. McCain will compromise to get their support, or so they believe. He may be forced to pick a VP that will garner their suppport for the ticket? Huckabee or someone like him.

It is instructional to understand that the Democrats have not won a majority of the voters in over 30 years. Jimmy Carter was the last Democrat to win the Presidency with a majority of the voters. If Huck stays in the race, I see him helping McCain, rather than hurting him. However, with the energy of the Democrats and the young voters, I am still optimistic that we will win in November.

[Mz Pip]

1. Helps

It forces McCain to run farther and farther to the Right. Democrats and Independents won't be supporting a RW duo.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[harun]

2. Helps a lot (n/t)

[Bicoastal]

3. Hang in there Huckster!

McCain will have to out-Christian the guy who thinks each primary win is a "miracle from Jesus"!

[rox63]

4. It helps the Dems

It plays up the divides within the GOP coalition. There are a lot of rethugs that hate McCain. There are a lot of religious-right voters who greatly prefer Huckster to McCain. The longer that divide can be maintained, the more we can expect Huckster's supporters to stay home in November, if McCain does become the eventual rethug nominee.

[kentuck]

5. Also, McCain still needs about 450 delegates to get the nomination...

Granted that Huck needs more but if McCain cannot get the 1191 needed to win the nomination, what happens then? They start wheeling and dealing and Romney's delegates go to the Huckster and then a few delegates desert McCain, and then they have a real mess. :-)

[ElsewheresDaughter]

6. I don't think anything the repukes do can hurt the Dems

[Dob Bole]

7. Carter was the last Dem president to win a majority of evangelicals, which is Huckabee's strength

I think that Huckabee staying in the race longer gives McCain less time to get right-wing evangelicals in his corner, and many will be disappointed and stay home. (My father is a minister who says that he would rather stay home than vote for McCain.)

Those of us on the evangelical left will be voting for the Democratic nominee, no matter what happens. What will decide the election is where the 15% or so of evangelical moderates and independents go.