Friday, February 1, 2008

Oklahoma GOP Increasingly Split on Presidential Choice

Oklahoma Republicans are more divided than ever over who should be the next GOP presidential nominee.

For weeks now, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has looked like an easy winner among Sooner state GOP voters. Huckabee's appeal stemmed in part from his former career as a Baptist preacher.

But John McCain has growing support in Oklahoma as well, including support from the recently resigned House Speaker, Rep. Lance Cargill. Indeed, the most recent poll numbers show McCain pulling ahead of Huckabee in Oklahoma.

Now we see that Oklahoma National Committeewoman Bunny Chambers has endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Chambers, who is described as a longtime conservative activist, may carry some weight with the right-wing of the Oklahoma Republican party, which seems very unhappy with the prospect of a McCain nomination.

McCain, as right-wing radio constantly reminds us, is a traitor to the cause. We even saw a report today that hard-line blabber Ann Coulter will campaign for Hillary Clinton (!) if McCain is the GOP nominee.

That seems far-fetched
to us, but we would point out to Ms. Chambers and other Sooner state Romney supporters that—only a short time ago—Mitt was a liberal Republican governor of a liberal state, with positions that won't fly among Oklahoma's Republican base.

The number of Romney flip-flops is considerable and something the Democrats (and a good many Republicans) are likely to highlight in the on-going presidential debate.

No comments: