He may be a war hero who invented oven chips, but it seems that Senator John McCain is not getting any love from the conservatives, Christians, and Christian conservatives in his own party.
This key section of the Republican party ushered George "born again" Bush into the White House twice in a row, but the results from the weekend primaries show that they still want former Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee to do the Lord's work from the Oval Office.
The Huckster, ably supported by leading intellectual Chuck Norris, took Kansas by two to one (a winner takes all state, boosting his delegate total) and Louisiana. Washington state is too damn close to call.
"If you look at where our votes are coming from, it's clearly from the conservatives," Huckabee said after this latest string of wins, neatly echoing what I just said. "I think that makes sense. I am the most conservative candidate left standing."
What does this mean for McCain? Well, as we can see, the conservatives are flocking to Huckabee, though in the long run they will end up voting Republican on election day - or not at all.
What Bush, or more correctly Karl Rove, was masterful at was energising Christian voters and using their established community networks to get out the vote.
With a candidate they mistrust, such as McCain, they are likely to stay home altogether.
If he has any sense, the front runner will recruit Huckabee as his VP running mate, and hope that the smooth-talking Southern preacher can get out the vote to beat Hillary/Barack on November 4th.
