Could the Stars Align?

I’m liking the news I’m seeing right now. There is lots being said of Mike Huckabee’s second place finish in Ames. It’s too early to say if it will continue, but for now he is getting more of the press coverage that he deserves. I endorsed Mitt Romney before, and I don’t back off from that endorsement at all, but at the time I was not sure that Huckabee could become a serious contender for the nomination. If things continue like they are, with him getting more coverage than he was getting before, then I am sure that his message can be heard and appreciated enough to give him a legitimate shot at the nomination.

I would love to be able to choose between multiple candidates that I would be comfortable with. In the republican primaries I now have such a choice so long as Mitt and Mike are both still there. I guarantee that I am not going to vote for any of the other candidates (no matter who jumps in) if either of them is still running come February. (I’m sure that one of them will still be running by then if not both.) In the democratic primaries I could have had two if Tom Vilsack were still running – I still think he was the best candidate they have offered. Obama comes in second to Tom for me, and I am still not sure which Bill Richardson I believe in – the capable one who I think might be better than Obama, or the one who stumbles along with a long resume but too many gaffes to be taken seriously. I’m hoping for the capable one so that come general election time in 2008 I might conceivably have candidates from both major parties that I would be willing to vote for.

Unsaid in all this is that the two candidates I have listed who are considered major candidates by the media (Mitt and Obama) both have one flaw (the same one) that I am becoming less and less comfortable with. I’m saving that concern for a separate post so I can do it justice.