McCain Is Victor, But Others Still in the Ring

Feb. 6, 2008— -- Though Sen. John McCain's victories in states like New York and California make him the clear Republican front-runner, vote totals in the South indicate that none of the candidates are uniting the party.

McCain, R-Ariz., has a "conservative" problem. He lost voters, who identify themselves as "conservative," to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, by seven points yesterday. He even failed to win their support in his home state of Arizona.

On Thursday, McCain will speak to the Conservative Political Action Conference with the hope of healing any wounds.

"We all share common principles, common conservative principles, and we should coalesce around those issues in which we are in agreement, and, I hope, respectfully disagree on the few specifics [where] there is disagreement," McCain said on Wednesday.

"The conservative party may give its nomination to someone who does not carry, in any particular state, the conservative vote," noted Washington Post columnist and ABC News contributor George F. Will.

McCain's willingness to compromise with Democrats on issues, such as immigration, arouses conservative ire.

Talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh, for instance, today railed against the Arizona senator, after McCain said that President Reagan had reached out to Democrats.

"We know that he can work with Democrats," Limbaugh said. "The problem is, that he doesn't really want to work with Republicans. ... When did the measure of conservativism ... become reaching out to Democrats?"

This mistrust opened the door, to a degree, to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's Super Tuesday southern sweep of his home state, plus Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and West Virginia — boosted, in no small part, by Huckabee's fellow evangelicals.

"Mike Huckabee is the guy they feel like is part of the family," said former Bush senior adviser Matthew Dowd, "and it's the only place they feel like they can go."

But it's unclear that Huckabee can expand beyond his base. Though the former Arkansas governor won in southern states, he lagged a distant third in the rest of the country.

But, he insists, he will keep going.

"We won the states that a Republican has to win if he's going to win the White House," Huckabee told ABC News. "If he doesn't win those, he can't be president, no matter what."

Huckabee's resurrected campaign will continue to attract the conservative voters Romney needs, but Huckabee says he would not cede them to Romney.

"Who gives someone the right to say that my voters would automatically go to him?" Huckabee told ABC News. "If I'm spoiling his parade, maybe he's spoiling mine."

Indeed, Romney's performance has been underwhelming, and he lags far behind McCain's delegate count.

One Republican operative estimates Romney has spent $1.2 million per delegate. At that rate, the nomination would cost the former Bain Capital executive $1.3 billion.

"At some point, [Romney] has to realize that money can't buy you love," Dowd remarked of the candidate's efforts.

This leaves many voters in Louisiana — the site of the next Republican primary, this Saturday — dispirited.

"I'm not going to vote," Louisiana Republican voter Bobby Brown told ABC News. "There's not a candidate there that I could affirm. They haven't offered me anybody who is a Republican that I feel is worthy of voting for."

At this point, given the states at play, assessing the path to the nomination is murky. It's difficult to see how Huckabee or Romney could pass McCain, though, in this capricious election process, predictions are a risky proposition.

Avery Miller contributed to this report.