While most of the attention has focused on the bitter battle in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries, McCain faces a not insignificant challenge next week: avoid embarrassment in Texas, where his main remaining rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, has been actively courting the state party’s predominantly Christian conservative base.
Congressman Dan Patrick of Houston, a Huckabee backer, said he believes that if McCain bests Huckabee by 10 or 15 percentage points, he can claim a solid win in Texas. “I think he could spin that as ‘Texas supports John McCain,’ ” Patrick said. “If this were still up for grabs, Huckabee would win Texas. But it’s a fait accompli, and the governor is out of money.
“In Texas, we’re not super excited about McCain,” he added. But, like Crocker, Patrick affirmed he would strongly support McCain as the nominee.
And what of Huckabee fatigue among some national party leaders? Has he stayed in too long? The Texas Republicans say no—that the former governor has kept attention on social conservative issues, pressured McCain to focus on those issues, and guaranteed that the GOP race would continue to get some media coverage. “There are many of us in the party who feel we haven’t had a voice on conservative issues, and we want to be sure that Senator McCain knows we are still alive and kicking on the conservative right,” Patrick said. “Continuing to have that voice [through Huckabee] is not intended to be harmful or disrespectful.”
[h/t: State Senator Dan Patrick]
Loading ...
