Some still dissing McCain at polls
By: Jonathan Martin
May 9, 2008 09:33 AM EST

It’s hard not to notice: In each of the last three Republican primaries, roughly a quarter of the vote went to someone other than John McCain.

Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee got a combined 27 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania last month, long after the GOP nomination had been settled in McCain’s favor. On Tuesday, Paul, Huckabee and Mitt Romney received a combined 23 percent in Indiana. Alan Keyes, Huckabee, Paul and “No Preference” took 26 percent in North Carolina.

On the surface, it would seem that McCain, the party’s presumptive nominee, still has some distance to go in winning over his party. But aides to McCain and other observers say the results are less than meets the eye.

They argue that the lingering votes for Paul and Huckabee—who together won about one-fifth of the vote in Indiana and North Carolina—represent vestigial passion for two candidates who developed a fervent, if narrow, grassroots following.

Still, for a candidate viewed with suspicion by some in his party’s base, the dissenting votes are a nuisance he could do without.

The three legged stool the GOP used to sit on while it milked everything good this nation used to stand for is busted. I’m glad to see the Christian Coalition (who’ve done some great things for this country in earlier incarnations, and may do so again in the future) and the Libertarians (whom I’ve grown fond of for their principled stance on many issues dear to my heart) part ways with the Kleptocrats.