This is a follow-up to my last blog entry, "What You Aren't Hearing About South Carolina".

With just one more primary left in January, John McCain has staged a political comeback that few people expected. Likewise, Mike Huckabee was relegated to the third tier of "also-ran" candidates and almost nobody anticipated his stunning move into second place in the contest. Now, however, both of these underestimated men have shown the strength and determination to face down difficult odds and rise to the top of the Republican field.

I personally believe that McCain's victory in New Hampshire, and the strong showing of McCain and Huckabee in South Carolina, signal an end to the "wide-open" nature of the race and create essentially a two-man contest between John McCain and Mike Huckabee. January will end with McCain and Huckabee winning all of the most important states while Romney grabbed a few states with little or no bearing on the eventual outcome, with the single exception of  his home state of Michigan. With McCain and Huckabee surging in national polls and in key states that demonstrate electabilty and regional strength, we will likely see Thompson dropping out of the race (having remained in primarily to help McCain in South Carolina by pulling votes from Huckabee) and a further surge in McCain and Huckabee's numbers from Thompson's supporters. Romney has not gained the traction or enough support to do more than hope for a miracle on Super Tuesday, and will probably have to drop out after that big day.

The party can ill afford a long, inconsistent slug-fest among our best candidates, which will weaken them all and could handicap the eventual nominee by both bruising him and the potential vice presidential picks, and by widening divisions and resentments among our voting coalition. So the emergence of a two-man race at this point is a very good thing indeed, especially since I think the two top candidates will very likely share the ticket in November.

Such a combination brings strong advantages that should be immediately evident. It weds foreign policy conservatives and social conservatives while providing congressional experience with governing experience, not to mention the obvious advantages it brings in the South. Among conservative voters, these two candidates cover the bases on the issues most important to conservative voters while appealing to independents, plus opening doors on some other issues not traditionally considered viable territory for conservatives or at least usually available among only a narrow constituency – education and the environment, and to some extent economic disparity (Huckabee is often criticized for his concerns about this, but the truth is that a significant segment of voters, and of conservative voters, are worried about their economic situation and feel left behind, and they deserve to have their concerns represented).

If conservatives will overcome their lingering anger with McCain and Huckabee on the immigration issue (a topic that won't help Democrats in the general election, so this is only a problem if it dampens Republican voter turnout), the only real barrier that still exists will be removed from their road to the nomination as a ticket that would be unbeatable in the general election. McCain represents more than any other candidate the heart of Republican foreign policy and security policy. Huckabee represents more than any other candidate (for years, in fact) the heart of Republican social values. McCain has worked in Congress and knows what it takes to get an agenda accomplished, he has reached across the isle to get things done, and has passed important legislation. Huckabee has governed, he has ran an executive branch and had to work both with and against a legislature. Their shared experience is precisely what American needs.

Those who say these two men are not fiscally conservative enough are mistaken. McCain's record speaks for itself, and he has over these many years been a consistently reliable conservative. The fact that he has on a few occasions allowed his concern for the best interests of our nation to intrude into his consideration of a couple of massive tax breaks, because he was unsure if it would actually help or might not be prudent or responsible at the time, doesn't mean he's not fiscally conservative. It means he honestly assesses whether there are times here and there when a huge tax cut might need to wait just a bit, for the interest of our nation, or whether the way it is being done might not be the best way at that time. But this is an exception, not a rule, to McCain's voting, and his real record is fiscally conservative, whatever his detractors might dishonestly claim about him right now in their attempts to force Mitt Romney upon our party.

Mike Huckabee's record has also been attacked as fiscally liberal, and again this is disingenuous at best. The same people claiming a Huckabee nomination would destroy our party would've apparently said the same thing about Ronald Reagan back in 1980, I guess. See, the entire point of conservatism is small government that cuts spending and sends as many decisions and as much funding of programs as possible back to the states. States should, as often as possible, be the ones making those determinations and then creating the sources of funding if it's needed (rather than coming to Washington with their hands held out). As a governor, you must make decisions and enact programs and legislation in ways that are different from how you might decide and what you'd be willing to enact from the White House. This is an entirely consistent viewpoint about the role of states and federal government, and anyone who understands these processes or the actual philosophy of our party knows this. So again, if the people distorting the truth about Huckabee's record now had been around in 1979 and 1980, they'd have done their best to keep Ronald Reagan out of the White House.

John McCain and Mike Huckabee deserve to share the Republican ticket in November, and it will be one of the strongest tickets our party has put forward in many decades in terms of experience, strength, representing our base, and having a clear and compelling vision for our nation in the future.

Both men also bring a special voice to the things they represent, too, something that has been missing even among some of the best conservatives in government: when McCain and Huckabee speak about foreign policy or social values, their voices sound like our party's conscience. Many Republicans will talk about abortion, or about how to conduct war -- but Mike Huckabee reminds us that life doesn't begin at conception and end at the birth-canal, and that being pro-life sometimes has to mean providing prenatal care for an illegal immigrant to save her baby; and John McCain reminds us that when we consider whether or not to torture terrorism suspects in the course of a war we simply cannot afford to loose, it's not about who "they are", it's about who WE are and who we want to be as a nation. Huckabee speaks about morals and faith as a former preacher, McCain speaks about moral certainty in how we conduct war as a veteran and former POW victim of torture. I don't think we should forget or underestimate this role as voices of conscience for conservative principles, because it is something that many of us now realize has been perhaps missing or forgotten for a while, and we welcome it's return.

Our candidates, our GOP ticket for the general election, and our next President and Vice President of the United States, are in front of us now. I hope and pray that we realize it, and that as a party we move forward as one.