I thought he should have withdrawn earlier, but in the end Mike Huckabee did the right thing and pulled out.
He did so with eloquence and grace.
There was much to like about Mike Huckabee. With two major exceptions, Huckabee ran a clean campaign about ideas. He still has work to do in mending fences with parts of the party, but that should be possible for a man so plainly gifted.
Positively, he spoke for the unborn, the poor, and those that are not winners in a changing world and economy. That is a message of justice for all that the Republican Party needs and he should keep making it.
Mike Huckabee will be a major player in the future of the Party, especially if John McCain does not win the fall election. In any case, he should write some serious books, form a think tank to engage young conservatives, and press for a Party that does not leave its base behind.
He should seriously consider doing so from the Senate where he can demonstrate a fiscal conservatism that critics denied that he sincerely held.
I did not vote for Huckabee, but always liked him. He failed because plenty of Republicans were not sure they could trust his views outside the social issues. He should take his great gifts, his Obama-like rhetorical skills, and help move his voting constituency more into the center of American politics.
Mike Huckabee has earned the trust of a plurality of Republican Evangelical voters. He can use that trust to broaden the outlook of his voters and so do well for himself by doing good for them.