Huckabee Snatches West Virginia from Romney

<div style="text-align: center"><img src="/files/u2/wv-primary-thumb150.jpg" title="WV GOP primary thumb" alt="WV GOP primary thumb" height="106" width="150" /></div><br />Mike Huckabee, an also-ran since the Iowa caucuses, won West Virginia's Republican Convention today, the first clear victory of Super Tuesday. <a href="http://wvgazette.com/News/200802050313" target="_blank" title="Huckabee in West Virginina">Huckabee picks up 18 delegates</a>, having received more than 50% of the vote in the second round of balloting at Charleston's Civic Center.<p>"These are the juvenile actions of a morally bankrupt campaign," said John McCutcheon, a supporter of Mitt Romney. Romney had led in the first vote, winning 41% over Huckabee's 33%. John McCain, thought to be the national front-runner, drew only 15% and Ron Paul 10%. According to convention rules, Paul was eliminated from the second round of voting and nearly all McCain's support lined up with Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor.<br /><br />"The best scenario for the McCain campaign was to not have a Romney victory here today," Gary Abernathy, a McCain supporter, told the Charleston Gazette. "<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/05/super.main/index.html" target="_blank">This is raw politics</a>," remarked CNN political analyist Bill Schneider (presumably with a grin). </p>