Huckabee throws a curve at McCain in KA and LA

Apparently Republican conservative voters aren’t quite ready to line up behind the “presumptive” nominee John McCain quite yet. In a stunning win which surprised even Mike Huckabee, he won Kansas by nearly a 3-1 margin over McCain, and looks likely to squeak out a narrow win over McCain in Louisiana (Though since neither candidate won 50% of the vote, it is essentially a beauty contest with no delegates awarded, that will happen now in caucuses later). In both of those states conservatives consistently and overwhelmingly voted for Huckabee instead of McCain. The only bright spot on the evening for McCain may be the Washington Caucuses which were still too close to call at this writing, but McCain was leading.

The Louisiana and Kansas wins by Huckabee openly points to a severe weak spot in the McCain “message” as he attempts to move from “primary” mode to “nominee” mode in his campaigning the rest of the way. He has a serious problem with the conservative constituency of the Republican party, and as long as there is any alternative on the ballot with him (i.e. Huckabee), he will be hard pressed to sway them to rally to his standard.
While it is highly unlikely that Huckabee can actually win the GOP nomination at this late stage, he still has less delegates than Romney, his continued presence is a continual thorn (much like he was for Romney), in the side of the GOP to rally around McCain and get their focus on to the Democrats in a cohesive way that they would like.