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The Early Bird Gets The Mountaineers
By Dan McLaughlin Posted in 2008 | 2008 Presidential Campaign | Mike Huckabee | Mitt Romney | West Virginia — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Jim Geraghty notes that West Virginia's party convention could give us the first results of the day as early as 12:30, awarding 18 delegates to the winner, with 9 more to be awarded at a primary in May:
Romney and Huckabee each plan to appeal personally for the 18 national delegates up for grabs at the convention, their campaigns said Monday.
Ron Paul announced earlier that he would also attend the Charleston convention. Front-runner John McCain is sending former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer to speak on his behalf.
Presumably this will be a Romney win, but given the similarities between the GOP electorates in Arkansas and West Virginia, it could be an early test of Huckabee's continuing ability to draw support.
Huckabee's win in WV (at a convention and not a primary) is similar to Lincoln gaining the second Republican nomination for the presidency in 1860 in Chicago (at a convention).
Capiltalizing on his regional popularity in running against nationally known candidates, Lincon followed an early strategy of gaining commitments from many delegates as their second choice. As the better known candidates fell away, Lincoln's operatives collected on these commitments and Lincoln became a candidate of increasing support as the rounds wore on; eventually to prevail. Of course, the Huckabee win can be attributed more to perceived political philosophy than convention strategy, but the difference is also representative of convention vs. an elective strategy.