THE TALK
Huckabee Says He Still Has Shot at Nomination
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Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee said there is still a chance he could win the Republican presidential nomination despite Sen. John McCain's commanding lead.
"In politics, so many things can happen that can change the landscape overnight," Huckabee said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "A candidate can say something, do something; something can happen, and everything can change."
On NBC's "Meet the Press," host Tim Russert underscored the difficulty of Huckabee's challenge: Even if he won all the remaining primaries, he could not add enough delegates to clinch the nomination before the GOP national convention.
"I don't know how the math works out, but there is always the chance" of something changing, Huckabee replied. "The thing is, it's not just how many I need. Senator McCain also needs that many. And if he doesn't get that many, he's not the nominee, either. This thing could go to the convention."
Huckabee made up a little ground on McCain on Saturday, beating the senator from Arizona in Louisiana and Kansas voting. McCain narrowly defeated Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) in Washington state's caucuses.
Huckabee would not concede a loss in Washington, saying his campaign is investigating "legal issues" there because of the closeness of the vote. (His campaign filed a complaint later yesterday, disputing the results.)
Karl Rove, President Bush's former senior political adviser, did his best to shoot down Huckabee's chances. Rove said on CBS that it is far-fetched to presume that McCain will say or do something to doom his candidacy.
Huckabee "said he could win, provided that there were mistakes made by his opponent, and that some of these bound or pledged delegates would change their mind. Well, even if they change their mind, they're bound or pledged to vote for the candidate who won their primary," Rove said. "I find it very unlikely, completely implausible, that Governor Huckabee could win 83 percent of the delegates."
As Bush's adviser, Rove ran a brutal campaign against McCain as Bush and the senator dueled for the GOP nomination in 2000. But this week, Rove donated money to the McCain campaign.
