Published: May 12, 2008 05:22 pm            

Still a choice — 05/13/08

Voters can send message even if they don’t change outcome

Politically, Hillary Clinton and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are far apart. But Senator Clinton — the wife of a former governor of Arkansas — is now playing the same role in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination as Huckabee did earlier this year in the race for the GOP nomination for president. And just as the final weeks of Huckabee’s campaign gave Republicans an opportunity to cast a vote in opposition to John McCain, the party’s certain nominee for president, Hillary Clinton is giving Democrats unhappy with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s near-certain nomination a chance to cast a protest vote.

While McCain’s success in the early Republican primaries caused such well-known opponents as Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson to end their campaigns for president, the lesser-known Huckabee hung in there and became the darling of the religious right. With McCain holding a seemingly insurmountable lead, many of the GOP faithful encouraged Huckabee to end his campaign in the interest of party unity.

Huckabee refused. He said he would continue to campaign until McCain had more than enough delegates to gain his party’s nomination — and he did just that.

Now, pundits are saying that Barack Obama’s lead for the Democratic nomination is too large for Clinton to have a realistic chance to win her party’s nomination. Many are saying she should end her campaign in the interest of party unity. But she has refused, vowing to continue her campaign until when — and if — her opponent has enough pledged delegates to win the nomination.

While Huckabee defeated McCain in a number of state primaries — mostly in the South — after the Arizona senators was assured his party’s nomination, Clinton is likely to do the same. In fact, if the polls are accurate, she will easily win next Tuesday’s Kentucky primary. Even Obama has indicated Clinton’s lead in this state is too great for him to overcome.

So, three months later, Kentucky voters could send Obama that same message that voters in the states Huckabee won sent to McCain: Although you are certain of getting the nomination, you have yet to win our support. You have a lot of work to do if you expect to carry Kentucky in November.

So should Kentucky Democrats support the party’s likely nominee instead of the candidate they prefer next Tuesday? Not at all. Their vote may not be able to stop — or even slow — Obama’s march to the party’s nomination, but they certainly can send a message to the Illinois senator.

Far be it from us to encourage Hillary Clinton to throw in the towel. Strong opposition makes candidates more responsive to the voters.

        

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