Goodbye, Huck

Last week I was informed that presidential candidate Mike Huckabee had dropped out of the race. Had I been in a less public place, I'm fairly certain I would have cried. His withdrawal amounts to little less than a national tragedy, leaving us with three democrats and a Ralph Nader to pick from in November. This might be the first election ever in which the Republican party has had no candidate to represent it.

The lines, then, have to be redrawn, and all definitions rethought. If John McCain is a Republican.... What does that make me? I must be some kind of extremist. Ann Coulter has declared that in the event of its boiling down to Hilary and McCain (or, for that matter, the devil and McCain) she will be voting for the first. This is scary, although it's important to remember that Coulter is Coulter and we all know she's got a reputation to keep.

The fact that Huckabee is prophesied to have a good chance in 2012 is of little consolation. By then the Party will have hopefully pulled itself together, and somebody stronger will take his place. He'll no longer be necessary. Right now, though, we need him, if only to fill some psychological void. Nader said he threw in his name to give people a "choice." How kind. As far as I'm concerned, there will be no choice in 2008.