Consider It a Compliment

Democrats are obviously spooked about Mitt Romney -- son of Michigan and part time inhabitant of New Hampshire -- serving as McCain's veep. That's why they're preemptively blasting him.

What's interesting is that Mike Huckabee is trying to stir up opposition to Romney, too. That clarifies two things: First, that Huckabee is desperate to prevent Romney from gaining whatever political advantage a veep nomination would bring him. Second, it shows that Huckabee is willing to stir up party dissension -- and thereby increase the chances of an Obama victory, however incrementally -- for his own personal advantage. That's revealing, and (alliteration alert!) part of an ongoing Huckabee pattern of placing his personal interest above principle or party.

Look. Rush Limbaugh, Hugh Hewitt, Laura Ingraham and others whose conservative credentials are every bit as solid as Huckabee's -- more so, in fact -- were ready to embrace Romney. That may not be great for Huckabee, but it does show that the issue of Romney's conservative bona fides is not one that's troubling to most mainstream right-of-center voters.

The bottom line: Romney's been vetted, and no one seriously doubts that he'd be capable of stepping up to the plate immediately in a moment of crisis. He has a strong economic background, and the ability to handle big problems without panicking.

He's exactly the kind of pick that a 71 year old candidate, living in an age of international terrorism, needs. The Democrats know it -- that's why they're attacking him. Huckabee knows it, too. All the opposition to a Romney veep choice is a compliment to Mitt Romney.