The Huck effort to block Mitt for veep

From "The Politico"
(Just wanted to let people know how Huck is trying to position himself for 2012-Buddy)

For the second consecutive day, Mike Huckabee made public statements suggesting John McCain ought not pick Mitt Romney as his running mate.

“I think there are better choices for Sen. McCain that have the approval of value voters,” Huckabee said today on Fox News. Yesterday, he told CBS that many Republicans are "not necessarily comfortable" with Romney because of his changed positions.

At the same time, Huckabee's Michigan supporters met with McCain social conservative liaison Marlys Popma last night in Saginaw. Though ostensibly held to discuss how Huckabee's loyalists can help McCain, supporters of the former Arkansas governor also used the get-together to warn against tapping Romney, according to an attendee.   

Elizabeth Sipfle, who called me without prompting, said picking Huckabee's detested primary rival would amount to a poke in the eye of Huckabee's supporters.

"We made it clear that we want Huckabee to be recognized," said Sipfle, an Oakland County lawyer who chaired the Michigan effort of the volunteer "Huck's Army." "When you snub him, you snub GOP votes."

Sipfle said she and her fellow Huckabee supporters were disappointed when a former Romney aide who is now working for McCain showed up at the meeting.   

"It just was bad taste — and it didn't go unnoticed," she said.

As McCain nears his selection, it seems clear what is taking place. Whoever he selects will be well-positioned to run for the GOP nomination in either 2012 or 2016. Huckabee supporters recognize that, were he to be placed on the ticket, Romney would likely become the natural front-runner in one of those future cycles. By keeping him off the ticket this year, they ensure the next GOP field remains scrambled and Huckabee's prospects improved.

Romney supporters, while anxiously awaiting word of McCain's veep decision, have sought to only look forward, offering public support of the GOP nominee and avoiding reprising their Iowa caucus battle.   Privately, though, Romney's loyalists continue to loathe Huckabee at levels that approach the earlier disdain between Obama and Clinton camps. 

Instead of hitting back, though, they're hoping to burnish their "team player" credentials by not responding in kind, with the idea being to portray Huckabee as the one who is looking out for his own interests.

"The primaries are over," Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said when asked for comment about Huckabee's statements. "Now, the task of all Republicans is on uniting the party to help elect John McCain, not on sowing division."