Super Tuesday's First Winner: Huckabee??

In one of the one notable sissy fights in recent political memory, Mike Huckabee wins the West Virginia primary caucus GOP meeting of the minds due to a positional war between camps from John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Romney led after the first round of voting, but he didn't have enough support to win the state's 18 delegates. After the first ballot, Romney had 41 percent, Huckabee had 33 percent, McCain had 15.5 percent, and Ron Paul had 10 percent, according to the Gazette.

Under convention rules, a candidate must get at least 50 percent to win the delegates. Also under the rules, Paul was taken off the second ballot.

A McCain representative urged his supporters to back Huckabee on the second ballot. "The best scenario for the McCain campaign was to not have a Romney victory here today," Gary Abernathy, a McCain supporter and former state GOP director, told the Gazette.

This....means...WAR

And the anti-McCain people have come back fighting with both guns blazin', the most notable of these foot soldiers is Dr. James Dobson, the found of Focus on the Family, who says he'd never vote for the lovable straight-talkin' Arizona Senator and former Vietnam War Hero.

Not all the GOP talk is anti-McCain, however, as former presidential "candidate" and the original GOP grandfather, Bob Dole, spoke on behalf of his fellow Senator and War Hero in a letter where he told conservative "pundit" Rush Limbaugh to...shut up.

"I worked closely with Senator McCain when he came to the Senate in 1987 until I departed," Dole, the former Senate Republican leader, wrote. McCain's campaign released a copy yesterday.

"I cannot recall a single instance when he did not support the party on critical votes. (At my age, I cannot be entirely certain but here are a few key conservative examples)," wrote the 84-year-old Dole.

Limbaugh, of course, ran to the closest available microphone and replied...so did his new BFF Mitt Romney, who said that Bob Dole is "probably the last person I would have wanted to have write a letter for me."

A day later Romney backpeddled like a little bitch and showed proper respect to his GOP superior.

"Let me make it very clear. Senator Dole is an American hero, a war hero, a fine man and a great leader for our party," Romney said in Charleston, W.Va., where GOP voters were a holding a state convention Tuesday.

Yeah...you better make that clear pal!

The Rundown...

• Bob Novak keeps it real on Fred Thompson – “[people believe that Thompson] did such a good job as the district attorney of New York City that he deserves a chance to be president.” [Y & N]
• Rudy enjoys George Steinbrenner’s [Village Voice] but rips American farm workers for not being millionaires. [Talking Points]
• Romney solidifies ever-changing stance on abortions. [Chippewa Valley]
• Ron Paul scores one for the B-Team [Conservative Voice]
• McCain makes final push for NASCAR fans [AP] and blames Bush for lack of appeal. [AP]

McCain Staffers Escape...

...Despite his status as a war hero and generally loveable grand-fatherly figure, some McCain insiders say he's actually batshit crazy and his campaign is on the verge of collapsing.

"One of the top aides to the Republican leadership told me that McCain has lost so much support, he's simply beside himself. He's wringing his hands. Things are sinking fast—in two or three weeks, we'll know if there is any recovery."

Hmm, maybe I should do my next KYC feature on him instead of John H. Cox.