The stalking horse argument does not hold water if you look at the exit polls from states that have voted already. Their second choice is McCain and not Romney. Without Huckabee in the race to siphon off some McCain support, this would be over today.
I know, but I like to throw it back at some of the Huck supporters who tried to say that about Thompson. Although I do think Huck is angling for McCain’s VP and will give him his delegates. So in that sense he may still turn out to be a sort of stalking horse.
In reality, Huck and Romney are near mutually exclusive. One is not the 2nd choice of most voters if they are voting for the other. Apparently Rudy and McCain are along the same lines, though not as strong.
It would be great though if Huck can win some southern states, particularly the winner-take-all ones. If Romney can win CA and a number of others he’s leading in (especially the caucus states), Huck winning those states will siphon from McCain and keep McCain and Romney close in the delegate count today.
Which may be all for not if Huck gives those delegates to McCain for a VP slot.