huck as a third party candidate?

[WalterMitty]

how likely is it?

id say it is pretty unlikely, especially if huck has any future presidential plans.

but then again, maybe huck thinks his future in the republican party is probably done anyway..why not go for it?

the mccain camp has to be worried of such a possibility.

[Josh/Devilman88]

He will not do it, Huckabee will run in 2012 if McCain loses the GE.

[AndrewTX]

0% chance. He's gonna wait till 2012, regardless if McCain wins or lose.

[MODU]

No.  Huckabee is a Republican, and he has no intentions of going against the GOP in a third-party run.

[Stranger in a strange land]

No, Huckabee is a Republican through and through. Given that he's from Arkansas, a state with an aenemic republican state party, it would probably have been just as easy for him to be a blue dog, but he became a Republican, which signifies to me that he is a true believer who won't abandon his party.

[TomC]

Yeah, what they said

[Keystone Phil]

I'll be generous and say maybe a 3% chance.

[TheGlobalizer]

He will not do it, Huckabee will run in 2012 if McCain loses the GE.

[Lincoln Republican]

No, Huckabee will not run as an independent in 2008.

If he does run in 2012, he will lose as badly as he has in 2008.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

No chance in hell.

Huckabee will do the right thing and wait until 2012.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I don't think Huckabee wants to run a third party campaign.  I give it a 3% chance.

[perdedor]

As a Democrat, it's a great fantasy. However, as a realist, it's silly to even think about.

[Keystone Phil]

  Purge the disgusting religious element. 

Thanks for that.

If you have such a problem with us stupid religious folk, leave the damn party. You aren't just picking on far right wing evangelicals when you say "disgusting religious element" either.

[Duke 🇺🇸]

That would be awesome.  Completely remove the religious right from the party.  Then replace the Bush Republican standard with the McCain Republican standard and we're getting somewhere!  Granted we won't be anywhere near where we used to or should be as a party, but it's a start.  Purge the disgusting religious element.  Yes, we will lose quite handily, but it'll send an important message.

Why are you a Republican? We'd lose every election without the religious right. It would be disastrous for our party.

Anyway, Huckabee will not run on a third party ticket. He has no reason to do it.

[Хahar 🤔]

That would be awesome.  Completely remove the religious right from the party.  Then replace the Bush Republican standard with the McCain Republican standard and we're getting somewhere!  Granted we won't be anywhere near where we used to or should be as a party, but it's a start.  Purge the disgusting religious element.  Yes, we will lose quite handily, but it'll send an important message.

Why are you a Republican? We'd lose every election without the religious right. It would be disastrous for our party.

Anyway, Huckabee will not run on a third party ticket. He has no reason to do it.

And until 1992, the Democrats lost every election without the Solid South. They've survived. A religious-rightless GOP would mean, in several decades, a far better political discourse in America.

[Duke 🇺🇸]

That would be awesome.  Completely remove the religious right from the party.  Then replace the Bush Republican standard with the McCain Republican standard and we're getting somewhere!  Granted we won't be anywhere near where we used to or should be as a party, but it's a start.  Purge the disgusting religious element.  Yes, we will lose quite handily, but it'll send an important message.

Why are you a Republican? We'd lose every election without the religious right. It would be disastrous for our party.

Anyway, Huckabee will not run on a third party ticket. He has no reason to do it.

And until 1992, the Democrats lost every election without the Solid South. They've survived. A religious-rightless GOP would mean, in several decades, a far better political discourse in America.

Will those people lose their faith or just not vote? Forming a third party that is just religious conservatives would actually do well in the deep south. It would also create a permanent Democrat majority, which won't be good at all.

[Хahar 🤔]

That would be awesome.  Completely remove the religious right from the party.  Then replace the Bush Republican standard with the McCain Republican standard and we're getting somewhere!  Granted we won't be anywhere near where we used to or should be as a party, but it's a start.  Purge the disgusting religious element.  Yes, we will lose quite handily, but it'll send an important message.

Why are you a Republican? We'd lose every election without the religious right. It would be disastrous for our party.

Anyway, Huckabee will not run on a third party ticket. He has no reason to do it.

And until 1992, the Democrats lost every election without the Solid South. They've survived. A religious-rightless GOP would mean, in several decades, a far better political discourse in America.

Will those people lose their faith or just not vote? Forming a third party that is just religious conservatives would actually do well in the deep south. It would also create a permanent Democrat majority, which won't be good at all.

Democratic. Get it right.

And what I mean is that they would lose their influence.

[TheGlobalizer]

  Purge the disgusting religious element. 

Thanks for that.

If you have such a problem with us stupid religious folk, leave the damn party. You aren't just picking on far right wing evangelicals when you say "disgusting religious element" either.

I have a problem with stupid religious folk, but not all religious folk.  I do think there are too many of the former in the GOP.

[Keystone Phil]

Actually, yes I am only picking on the right-wing evangelicals.  In saying disgusting religious element I wasn't linking "disgusting" with "religious", I was linking it with "religious element".  That refers specifically to the far right nuts that are forcing us towards populism.  And I'm not leaving, it's our Party.

So why should they leave? It's just as much their party as it is your's.

[Keystone Phil]

Actually, yes I am only picking on the right-wing evangelicals.  In saying disgusting religious element I wasn't linking "disgusting" with "religious", I was linking it with "religious element".  That refers specifically to the far right nuts that are forcing us towards populism.  And I'm not leaving, it's our Party.

So why should they leave? It's just as much their party as it is your's.

Honestly, because it was ours first.  They want big government and social control, this Party is supposed to be the Party of small government and limited social intervention.

Parties evolve (not that I'm supporting a move to the left).

[MasterJedi]

You're going more for the relgious right then, you want a lot of (me included) social conservatives and economic moderates to leave the party. Have fun winning any national elections!

[Keystone Phil]

The suburbs, urban areas, and pretty much anywhere with a good amount of people are more inclined to vote for the old values of our Party as opposed to the new ones.  Hence the extreme trend away from the Republican Party.  The populists have the Appalachians and poor people.

Urban areas don't like populists? I've heard it all now. 

[NDN]

That would be awesome.  Completely remove the religious right from the party.  Then replace the Bush Republican standard with the McCain Republican standard and we're getting somewhere!  Granted we won't be anywhere near where we used to or should be as a party, but it's a start.  Purge the disgusting religious element.  Yes, we will lose quite handily, but it'll send an important message.

The problem is that the religious demagoguery is largely the only way to really promote most of your agenda. If it wasn't for the pandering to the fundamentalists and super patriots, they'd just view the GOP as the Country Club Party. Of course the side effect is that there's a real chance of the business/secular elites being ousted for real as every other faction outnumbers them.

Of course if the GOP just took a more regional/local approach to social issues and invited economic moderates AND conservatives into the party they could be viable still. As it stands, the Democrats have flirted more with that strategy since 2006 (but you wouldn't know it by this election).

[NDN]

The suburbs, urban areas, and pretty much anywhere with a good amount of people are more inclined to vote for the old values of our Party as opposed to the new ones.  Hence the extreme trend away from the Republican Party.  The populists have the Appalachians and poor people.

Define 'old values.'

Most of the reason why the GOP has continued to do well in spite of losing a lot of their old voter getters/scapegoats (like welfare cheats) is because of security issues (crime, immigration, terrorism, etc.). But with the neo-Con foreign policy discredited, illegal immigration worse than ever, and crime still at historical lows it's lost ground there. The GOP really has nothing to offer financially strained middle Americans. Social Issues are a mixed bag in terms of their appeal. Personally I think the Republicans would be doing themselves and the rest of the country a favor if they went back to 'states rights' instead of trying to push a 'conservative' (re: reactionary) agenda through Washington.

[NDN]

That would be awesome.  Completely remove the religious right from the party.  Then replace the Bush Republican standard with the McCain Republican standard and we're getting somewhere!  Granted we won't be anywhere near where we used to or should be as a party, but it's a start.  Purge the disgusting religious element.  Yes, we will lose quite handily, but it'll send an important message.

The problem is that the religious demagoguery is largely the only way to really promote most of your agenda. If it wasn't for the pandering to the fundamentalists and super patriots, they'd just view the GOP as the Country Club Party. Of course the side effect is that there's a real chance of the business/secular elites being ousted for real as every other faction outnumbers them.

That's better than being known as the Party of the uneducated.  We are losing power because we no longer appeal to a wide variety of people, just southerners.  We are losing the northeast, the west, and the midwest.  We can't win on the southern strategy, it's fatally flawed.  The south is not the entire country and we are rapidly becoming a Party only for southerners.  If we stress principled freedom as opposed to mandated morality, we'd be much better off.

Oh I agree mostly. Demographics are working against the GOP now. The party 'base' is basically only a dwindling group of white male protestants. But the GOP couldn't really pursue as conservative of an economic policy as you want to stay viable. In order to drop the fundies, it would need to moderate on economic issues and present itself as able to defend america again as opposed to just being trigger happy.