The Romney campaign, renowned for its oppo-heavy strategy, didn’t even have an oppo book on Rick Santorum a few days before the Iowa caucuses, so surprised were they by his surge. Jon Huntsman nearly decided in November to leave the GOP and run as an independent. And before one of the debates, Rick Perry sang “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” in a restroom. These details are from Mike Allen and Evan Thomas’ new e-book, Inside the Circus, as are these additional factoids below.

Mitt Romney raised millions in March by warning would-be donors a brokered convention could mean a Huckabee-Palin ticket:

[O]n March 14 and 15, Romney had raised over $3 million in New York and Connecticut. … The Romney campaign had a clever pitch for the event. Schmoozing with his money pals before the events, a Romney fund-raiser pointed out that “slightly more than half the delegates” to the GOP convention at Tampa “are evangelicals.” These true-believer conservatives are averse not only to Romney but to semi-reasonable types like Chris Christie and Mitch Daniels. As a result, said this fund-raiser, the “responsible Republican guys” are “starting to realize” that at a brokered convention “it’s not going to be Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush and Paul Ryan, a ticket they could really love. It’s probably Huckabee-Palin or Palin-Huckabee.” That was enough to scare the Wall Street crowd into getting out their checkbooks.

ROMNEY THE BACKSTABBER OF CONSERVATIVES

FLASHBACK:

The McCain/Palin ticket was up ++4 to 10 pts
in some polls, days prior to Election 2008.
So rather than helping the GOP, Romney and
TeamROMNEY and the RNME (Republican National Media Establishment)
decided …to attack Gov. Palin to throw Election2008.

Romney, and the Van der Sloot RNME RINOs for Obama in 2008

Late in October, The American Spectator's The Prowler revealed:
"Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers…
have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election.
'Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,'
says one former Romney aide…
'The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney.
"Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a 'diva' and was going off message intentionally."

The Palmetto Scoop reported: "One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was
the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."
"I’m told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palin’s people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
… aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw
that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.

"These staffers are now out trying to finish her off ….hoping it would ingratiate themselves with Mitt Romney."

"Who's the Palin Leaker from the McCain Campaign?
National Review Online The publication of a Vanity Fair profile of Sarah Palin
appears to have opened old wounds in the McCain campaign.
... the source of the “Diva” leak was Nicolle Wallace’s husband."

"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"

"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"

"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"

"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"

"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"

Interesting. I remember having a conversation with someone back when it looked like Santorum might win MI and/or OH and there was still time for her to get on the ballot in CA, TX, NJ, SD, NM and a couple other states that if Palin annnounced that she was running as a team with Huckabee that they’d have a great chance of winning at the convention.

I know some don’t care for Huckabee. But he’s personable and fun. He’s great on TV and folksy and really does well on the stump and with the folks out there as BOR would say. He’s the anti-Romney in that sense in that he’s just great with people. Similar to another guy from Hope actually.

He’s very good at campaigning. Huckabee singlehandedly ended Romney’s campaign in 2008 despite the fact that Romney outspent him more than 10-1 and had way more establishment and beltway support. Huckabee basically finished Romney off with one joke on Jay Leno and one brilliant “this is the ad I would have run but I decided not to because I’m sick of the negative ads” ploy.

If Santorum or Newt had Huckabee’s political/campaigning skill Romney would be long gone by now. I think a Palin/Huckabee ticket would be very formidable vs Obama under teh right circumstances. If the jobs keep coming Obama will likely beat anyone rather comfortably. But if gas prices keep rising and the economy stalls he’s very vulnerable.

Imagine gas at $5 a gallon, the economy slowing and job growth stalling, and the market slumping big by late August followed by the GOP totally on fire after Palin and Huckabee take the convention by storm.

But it seems Romney and his beltway people had the same idea I did.

I actually emailed her PAC and some others suggesting she reach out to Huckabee and run with him. I thought he’d go for it because he’d get on the ticket without raising any money or doing any work. Basically he’d just have to show up and crack some jokes, which he’s very good at.

Just read the NRO story and the comments and someone brought up a great point. This is very similar to Obama being caught in 2008 in San Francisco saying that he has trouble in PA because the rubes there cling to their guns and religion.

Here one of Romney’s top money guys going to a secret meeting on Wall Street, no doubt voicing the view of Romney and his inner circle and all of the GOP establishment and basically warning them that if Romney doesn’t get it then it won’t end up being one of their own like Bush/Ryan or Christie/Rubio but it’ll be those crazy hayseeds and hicks from the sticks Palin and Huckabee, it’ll be the evangelicals holding sway and clinging to their mama grizzly and their preacher man along with their guns and religion. Clearly making a class argument and lumping Palin and Huckabee together compared to the more polished folks like BUsh, Ryan, CHristie, Rubio, Romney, etc...

Hopefully this gets more play. It’s pretty much the same thing in many ways as what Obama said with Romney and his team being caught out in their contempt and disdain for the evangelicals and the conservative base.

By the way, I wonder how Huckabee feels about this. Huckabee remained neutral and relaly helped Romney. If he’d endorsed Santorum before IA Rick wins IA easily and possibly SC as well and things might be very different. And this is what Romney and his team think of him? Huck got played big time and hopefully he realizes it. This should how him where the establishment thinks he belongs and how they see him. Lumped in with Palin at the kiddie table.

Maybe it’s not too late. It won’t be Rick or Newt. If Palin and Huckabee got together and promised both Rick and Newt cabinet positions of their choice in exchange for their delegates and then announced that from here on Rick is the place holder for the Palin/Huck or Huck/Palin ticket, I think that would be enough to deny Romney the 1144 and get this to the convention where they’d have a great shot at winning.

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