Huckabee-McCain '08?

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. Both Mike Huckabee and John McCain have been blasted in recent ads by Mitt Romney. Huckabee went on to win in Iowa in spite of the criticism. McCain may do the same in New Hampshire on Tuesday.

That's all good and well but can they continue to split the vote and hope to have either of them outlast the mountains of money that Romney has on his side when the larger states start voting in another few weeks? I'm not sure. I think in order for someone to realistically be a viable candidate they've got to have either momentum or money. If the likes of Huckabee and McCain are trading victories early on I question whether either can gain true momentum. And it's a known fact that neither of them have the kind of money that Romney and Rudy Giuliani have.

So what's the alternative? What if Huckabee and McCain paired up early? I know it's not until after the primaries have all been determined and a nominee is in waiting that a running mate is chosen but what if Huckabee or McCain one bowed out of the primaries early and endorsed the other candidate with a pledge to be the running mate?

I think that makes a lot of sense on a couple of different levels. One, they need something and as I prefaced this post, necessity is the mother of invention. It's certainly an unorthodox approach but why not? They may not have anything to lose. On another level, the enemy of my enemy is my friend and Romney certainly seems to be the common enemy that Huckabee and McCain have had as of late. Whether their apparent friendship goes deeper than that is for someone with more insight than I have to discuss but it certainly seems that there's some sort of synergy there. McCain was the first to call and congratulate Huckabee after he won in Iowa. Huckabee was defending McCain in New Hampshire from Romney's attacks. Doesn't that have to mean something?

Those things are really only surface deep. There are some deeper reasons. Both Huckabee and McCain fashion themselves as something of Washington outsiders. They both draw ire on occasion from the base. Them teaming up may be the only way to unite the base, though. Huckabee is the smiling face with the quick wit and funny phrase. McCain is the hard-nosed one that's been there, done that, and has the foreign policy experience.

Why couldn't such a partnership work? Is it just me or is this something reminiscent of Bush-Cheney?