You have some good points. Bades. But if Mitt had won Florida, that would have likely heavily shifted the momentum his way. I don't think we can say with certainty that Huck's voters would have all gone to Romney. I think most would have though. Eatass's visceral bigotry towards Mormons is unfortunately a not uncommon sentiment, especially in a number of southern Evangelical and Charismatic Christian churches. Most Evangelical churches actually consider Mormonism to be a cult, and Joseph Smith to have been a teller of tall tales who was either delusional or a huckster. Much of Huck's support came from these people. In fact Huckabee himself was responsible for inflaming anti-Mormon sentiment when suggested that Mormon's believe that Satan is as powerful as God. What Mormons actually believe is that Satan and Jesus are brothers, in much the same way as Cain and Able were brothers. Cain's pride got him banished from the Garden as Satan's pride got him banished from Heaven. That belief isn't a terribly incongruous with mainstream Christianity.

Mitt's arrival on the scene presents a delimma for many Evangelicals. They blanch at his religion, but at the same time they realize that Mormons live their lives more like Christ would have us live than do most mainstream Christians. Despite the initial skepticism towards Romney, I believe most conservative Christians would have resolved to support him over McCain or Huckabee, had Romney won Florida.


But I too would like to see an analysis of how things would have played out if Huck had never gotten in or if he had gotten out sooner.

Personally, I think Huck has some anti-Mormon bigotry of his own. And I also think he's not as swell a guy as he portrays himself. He and/or his surrogates have have done some rather shifty things which smack of Clinton tactics.