Estrich: Huckabee Is a "Democrat's Dream"

Susan Estrich says she'll be dancing at the inauguration if Mike Huckabee is the Republican nominee.

Well, duh.

Any Republican is a Democrat's dream this year. Any Republican not named Ron Paul, that is.

As James Ostrowski has written at the LRC blog numerous times, Paul is the only candidate who can beat Hillary (or Obama -- we'll see how Iowa and N.H. play out for her). In no uncertain terms, the GOP will lose if Ron Paul is not its nominee because the roughly 10 percent of libertarians across the country will either vote for a third-party candidate or, like me, will simply stay home on election day -- that's more than enough to swing the election to the Dems (see 2006 if you question that assertion).

And things will be even worse for the Republicans if Paul doesn't get the nod and he decides to run on the Libertarian Party ticket or as an independent; he'll draw libertarians from their couches and everyone else who wants him today, which will guarantee a Democratic victory. That alone should scare Republicans enough to insist he's included in the FOX debate Sunday in New Hampshire.

Ron Paul is in great position here. He literally controls the fate of the Republican Party on election day. The GOP must ask itself: Would we rather nominate Ron Paul and win, or nominate anyone else and lose? Believe it or not, those are the terms.

On the surface, it's hard to believe Republicans in the House and Senate would want to lose the White House and face at least two years of one-party Democratic rule in Washington (assuming the Dems hold Congress, which they will). But I bet most of them believe being checked by a big-government Democrat is preferable to being checked by a principled libertarian Republican they despise.

While this might be a wise political maneuver for career politicians in D.C. who know they'll still be able to play ball on our dime with their Democratic "opponents," I'm wondering how well this little strategy would go over with the many big tent Republicans around the country -- especially those who may prefer a Romney or a McCain to Ron Paul, but who nevertheless have no political incentive to vilify one man if that means ceding control of the government to Democrats for years to come.

Comments

[Jerry]

You dead on with Ron, if he's not the GOP selection, I'll either vote for someone else or no one. Sometimes I wish there was a None of the Above and if it secured the most votes, the parties would have to nominate someone else.