Wow. Just caught this column by Roger Simon on Politico. These are not the remarks of a man expecting to be tapped for the vice presidency (he’s not, he says). They are a little overblown, too, for a man who had his hat handed to him in four states last night and who, though he overstayed his welcome in the race, still finished with fewer delegates than Mitt Romney, who dropped out weeks ago.

Tasteful. The suggestion seems to be that McCain might croak and The Huckster is ready. I called him the Quantrill of the 2008 political war last night before editing an entry to remove the reference. Perhaps I should have left it in. At a minimum, he seems to see himself as Ronald Reagan, circa 1976, planning to seize the party four years from now.

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Mike Huckabee is not planning on going gentle into that good night. In fact, he sounds like he still may be expecting John McCain to do so.

Huckabee conceded defeat in a speech Tuesday night. But hours earlier, he made clear that he isn’t leaving the stage quietly.

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“I may be in a position like the pitcher who goes to the bullpen,” Huckabee told me. “He is not on the mound, but should something happen, he is ready to come in for relief.”

Should something happen? As in, should something happen to a 71-year-old presumptive nominee named McCain? 

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Even though most Republican voters have not gone along with him – and voters in four more states made that clear Tuesday – he continuies believes he is simply a stronger candidate than McCain. 

“There are some serious questions whether Sen. McCain will be able to spend any money between now and the convention,” Huckabee said. “He will basically sit at home between now and September and not be able to spend a dime. And maybe the party will be wishing for a candidate without those restrictions, a candidate who can campaign full-time.”

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The wonderful hypocrisy here, of course, is that Huckabee had even less money than McCain, though not so little not to big-dog it with fancy planes and fancy hotels in the final days of his shellacking.

TV GIG?: Though his political future is uncertain, some are talking about Huckabee’s potential TV career, maybe with an Internet Christian channel.

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