A stunning thought just pooped… sorry… popped into my head.

What if, after McCain settles things with the conservatives in his party, he picks Joe Lieberman as his running mate? Consider the following:

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Huckabee is finished in his run for president. It may not be official yet, but with the Southern Baptist preacher’s loss in a South Carolina primary full of conservative Southern white Christians… he ain’t got nothin’.

Literally.

Not only does he not have the votes of what he has tried to form into his “base,” he also has no momentum, no money and no campaign organization to compete on the national level with giants like McCain and Ward Cleaver Romney. However, what Huckabee can say is that he energized the Christian conservative base like no one else has in this campaign (although that is not saying a lot), and this will likely win him a the number two spot on the ballot when McCain leaves Romney in the dust saying “Golly gee whiz! What happened?” and Giuliani… wait, who? Oh, nevermind…

McCain is a suspicious creature to the religious right, and his pandering to them went over about as well as his friendship with Bush. If he wants to shore up their support in November, McCain will have to run with someone with some more credibility on the Republican’s issues - God, guns and gays. Not only does Huckabee provide this, he also manages to do it while wooing the crap out of bleeding hearts like me, who rarely meet Baptists that seem trustworthy.

A McCain-Huckabee ticket hits all the right Rovian wedge issues on the head, but with a twist of compassion.

War on Terror? Check - Mac’s a war veteran and former prisoner of war that everyone respects.

Experience? Check - McCain’s been in Washington since Lincoln was shot.

Fresh face of change? Check - We’re not sure if Huckabee has even been anywhere in Washington besides Russert’s studio.

Hate-mongering religious issues? Check - Huckabee is a Southern Baptist, BUT he manages to take the GOP’s edge off these issues and make you realize he has actually put some deep soul-searching into them (AND, he supports the major aspects of Christianity that got dropped from the GOP platform because they didn’t meld well when the Sons of Confederate Veterans made a change and decided to leave the Dems and join the GOP). Double whammy - ridicu-liberals will continue to despise him for comments he made 15 years ago (no matter how irrelevant now), and moderate Christians will feel all warm and fuzzy inside about him.

All other wedge issues? Check - Huckabee is southern and white and Republican. No matter what he might have done with taxes as governor of Arkansas, those three qualities will turn enough good ol’ boy heads away from whoever the Dems run that it won’t matter.

You heard it here first. McCain-Huckabee versus… someone… in 2008.

Be sure to check back in July when I pry my foot out of my mouth.