To say this is a surprise would have to be the understatement of this political season.

California Rep. Duncan Hunter, a former presidential candidate, announced Wednesday he is endorsing Mike Huckabee’s White House bid.

What?!? Why?!?

He says,

“I got to know Governor Huckabee well on the campaign trail,” Huckabee said in a statement. “Of the remaining candidates I feel that he is strongly committed to strengthening national defense, constructing the border fence and meeting the challenge of China’s emergence as a military superpower that is taking large portions of America’s industrial base.

“Along with these issues of national security, border enforcement and protecting the U.S. industrial base, I see another quality of Mike Huckabee’s candidacy that compels my endorsement,” he added.

Mac’s reaction:

Ok, like W-T-F! Makes no sense unless Huck has something over Hunter’s head, it simply doesn’t make sense. Huck is totally open borders and Hunter is hardline fences. What gives?

More shocked reactions:

Evrviglnt from Political Vindication: “‘Splain that to me, Lucy!”

Brian at Liberty Pundit: “Is he endorsing the same Huckabee that we’re seeing on the campaign trail, or is there some sort of Bizarro-Huckabee out there that we haven’t seen yet?”

Michelle Malkin had the best post title: Hunter endorses Huck…heads explode

But it’s Jay at Stop The ACLU that really gets to the heart of things: “Oh well, its not like the Hunter’s 2% would help Huckabee at this point anyway.”

This just came into my email as I was reading similar reports on the reader.

San Diego, Calif.
We started this campaign a year ago right here, in San Diego Harbor, against the backdrop of American Naval power. We launched a campaign emphasizing a strong national defense, enforceable borders and restoring the industrial base of America.

Today we end this campaign. The Nevada caucuses reflecting only 2% of the vote for me. I ran the campaign exactly the way I wanted to, and at this point not being able to gain traction in conservative states of Nevada and South Carolina, it’s time to allow our volunteers and supporters to focus on the campaigns that remain viable.

It’s time for me to gear up for 2008’s defense bill that will be put together over the coming weeks. There is work to be done in the areas of troop protection and new capabilities to be deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. And over the horizon, the emergence of Communist China as a military super power will require a new emphasis on U.S. capabilities in undersea warfare, space, and long range air-power.

The best way to maintain a new era of peace is for the U.S. to remain strong. Over the coming year I will endeavor to help craft a defense bill that meets the new security challenges.

Since our campaign began over 200,000 additional manufacturing jobs have been lost. 1.8 million jobs have left the U.S. for China. This fracturing of the U.S. industrial base is a long term threat to America. I hope that the remaining candidates will recognize it and address it. As the senior Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, I will seek to address it.

Only hours ago a border patrolman was killed in the California Desert. This tragedy emphasizes more than ever the compelling case for the completion of the border fence. Since I wrote the bill that mandates 854 miles of double border fence only a few miles have been constructed. Over the next year in Congress I will do everything in my power to get that fence built.
Finally, for Lynn and me, the campaign over the last year has shown us this: America is a wonderful country. Our people have great character and goodness, and the meeting of new friends has enriched our lives.

The failure of our campaign to gain traction is mine and mine alone. But we have driven the issues of national security, the border fence, the emergence of China and the need to reverse bad trade policy. Because of that, this campaign has been very worthwhile, and for the Hunter family, a lot of fun.

To our friends and supporters and volunteers: many thanks. And now it’s time for me to focus on developing a 2008 defense bill that serves our troops and our nation.

Thanks, and God Bless America.
Duncan Hunter

The Republican debate in Iowa this past week is being universally awarded the Worst Debate Ever by most, if not all pundits. Jonathan Martin at The Politico wrote on Friday:

Dissatisfied with the debate here Wednesday that drew widespread scorn, Iowa Republicans will discuss on Friday the possibility of holding another forum before the January 3rd caucuses.

The debate this week, sponsored by the Des Moines Register and Iowa Public Television, was to have been the final gathering of the GOP contenders, but one well-placed Iowa Republican said tonight that they were interested in getting the candidates back together

“We’d prefer if the Register debate did not leave a bad taste,” said this source, who requested anonymity. “Iowa deserves a little better than that.”

The most likely possibility would be the week after Christmas, when many of the contenders are expected back in the state to make a final push before the voting.

I do agree with Allahpundit who wrote, “Do it well or don’t do it.”

The biggest obstacle will be the logistics of the short time left between the Christmas holidays and the Caucuses. Leaving that aside, what would make this debate worth doing?

I have a few suggestions:

• Limit the debate to Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Fred Thompson, and Mitt Romney. While I like both Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo, eliminating them along with Ron Paul and Alan Keyes (why was he included anyhow?) would allow for a much more substantive debate.
• Limit the number of questions. Allow more substance over quantity.
• Related to the above, allow the candidates time to answer, allow rebuttal, and encourage discussion.
• Find a moderator who can control all of the above, and ask relevant follow up questions. I have seen Rush suggested.

Add your suggestions in the comments. How many and what questions should be asked? Who should moderate? Format? Anything else?

The latest and last (before the first caucus) debate of Republican presidential candidates takes place in Iowa at 2pm EST. The stage will be crowded. Participating: Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo, Fred Thompson, and Mitt Romney.

Real Clear Politics includes this in their analysis:

Add it all up and we should expect to see another round of sharp exchanges between candidates, most of which will involve Mitt Romney. We’ll have to see whether today’s debate changes anything, but given the location and the proximity to caucus day, it’s a fairly important day for the top tier candidates to have a good showing and, most importantly, not to make a big mistake.

Captain Ed offers up some thumbnail thoughts about what various candidates need to accomplish. Here are a few snippets.

Mike Huckabee — No mistakes, connect emotionally, and seem reasonably conservative.

Mitt Romney — He has to stay focused and ignore Rudy while gently gunning for Huckabee.

Rudy Giuliani — Rudy needs a good performance, but not a great one, and will do best if he’s not the central focus.

John McCain — An extended dialogue on immigration hurts him here, but again, he’s not all that concerned with Iowa.

Fred Thompson — If he plays analyst instead of candidate, he’s toast.

It is with his thoughts on the rest of the field that I most agree:

As for the rest, at this stage, the Register should have taken a pass. They have not developed into contenders by any measure, and the inclusion of Alan Keyes is a strange joke. The DMR could have given us a chance to hear five realistic candidates with some time to get into detail on the issues, but instead chose to have nine with time for little more than soundbites.

Brian will be liveblogging at Liberty Pundit (if the power stays on). The link is here.

Steveegg (No Runny Eggs) is liveblogging here.

Overall, the CNN/YouTube debate questions were better than I expected. Prior to the debate I looked at 100+ of the nearly 5000 questions submitted. I was concerned. CNN did a fair (but far from good) job of selecting the ones to use. Still, I think the format is more gimmick than substance.

The candidates:

Mitt Romney did well and didn’t hurt himself. Not hurting yourself is often the best you can expect from these debates. His initial exchange with Rudy Giuliani over immigration seemed to go a little farther than necessary, but no real gaffes. GRADE: C+

Rudy Giuliani may not have hurt himself, but he sure didn’t help himself. At all. He didn’t seem to bring his ‘A’ game, at least not until after the second break. His defense that NY wasn’t a sanctuary city appeared, well, defensive. GRADE: C-

John McCain did much better than he has in past debates. He came across as less angry and more passionate than in past performances. He did well on all topics but still has not convinced me that the Amnesty Bill wasn’t amnesty. He is the one candidate that I’ve liked well in the debates, but can not support because of his past record on McCain/Feingold, amnesty, and the “Gang of 14″, etc. GRADE: B

Fred Thompson has the best answers and is closest to my views across the board. His White Papers and the details he has for his ideas are outstanding. He just doesn’t convey a real spark. If there were more passion I think he would be unbeatable. GRADE: B

Mike Huckabee probably did more to help himself than any of the others. His emergance in the polls may have caused the moderators to give him some additional focus. On a personality level he appeared to be very relaxed and comfortable with all the questions, much more than I’ve seen in past debates. GRADE: B+

Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo didn’t help or hurt themselves, but for the most part were non-factors. GRADES: C

Ron Paul was not received well by the members of the live audience other than those who already support Ron Paul. He tried (again) to say that he isn’t an isolationist. Saying it doesn’t make it so. He is wrong on the war and forign policy. He will not be the nominee no matter how much money he raises or how loudly his supporters can shout. GRADE: F

I found this at Grizzly Groundswell via GOPhub.

I’d say that’s pretty close.

By the way, once you take the quiz I’d love to know how it turned out for you. Leave your three in the comments.

The Republican debate in Iowa on December 4th will not (as of now) include candidates Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, or Ron Paul. The Iowa Republican Party, who is sponsoring the debate along with Fox News, issued standards for participation on Tuesday.

The Ronulans are not amused.

That’s because the sponsors said participants need to average 5% support among Republicans in recent national or Iowa polls — and so far, Texas Rep. Ron Paul is one of the candidates not making the cut.

News of the party’s decision and how to protest it was spread quickly over the Internet by supporters of the anti-war, anti-tax, anti-abortion libertarian. “We are getting bombarded” with calls and e-mails from Paul’s supporters, said GOP spokeswoman Mary Tiffany. She said there were 25 voice mails from angry Paul supporters before the start of business Thursday.

The answer Tiffany gives is exactly right:

“I’m all about the First Amendment, but at the same time, how is this productive?” she asked. “They need to start calling voters and start door-knocking instead of calling the Republican Party of Iowa.”

The deluded supports really think that they are doing much, much, much better than they are. Any suggestion to the contrary is treated as a) delusion, or b) a conspiracy.

Expect them to be in a foul mood for the next four weeks.

(h/t Flopping Aces)

And then there were nine.

Nine Republican rivals have agreed to join the debate being broadcast from Drake University in the state where precinct caucuses launch the presidential nominating season. ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” will host the debate, with Stephanopoulos serving as moderator.

The debate will air at 10:00am Eastern Time with nine GOP contenders.

Joining the debate will be Sen. Sam Brownback, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Rep. Duncan Hunter, Sen. John McCain, Rep. Ron Paul, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Rep. Tom Tancredo and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson.

I will try to have occasional updates here. I will also let you know if there is going to be a post debate roundtable at Debate Central.

UPDATE: Thanks to Steveegg for the information that the live debate has already started. My local affiliate obviously plays This Week on tape delay. I guess the No Runny Eggs live thread will start when his local affiliate starts to broadcast as well.

00:00 Introductions in order of poll rank.

No times. I’m watching the delayed broadcast on DVR (further) delay. I also missed quite a bit

Brownback is still stuck on his three state solution for Iraq

McCain on Iraq — Victory or we’ll be back.

Giuliani notes what none of the Dem candidates will say, that this is part of a war against Islamic terrorism.

Romney summarizes Barack Obama’s week. Sit down for tea with our enemies, nuke our allies. “In one week he’s gone from Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove.”

Tommy Thompson is a less than inspiring speaker

I guess the Paultards have come to Drake University

Nothing much new from any of them.

It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity. ~ Dave Barry

Happy 2nd Blogiversary to:
And What Next…

Blogs for Bush (Mark Noonan) Early in the “Surge”

The critics have it that we can just pick up and leave and all can be smoothed over – presumably by a French-led diplomatic effort to kneel before our terrorist masters and promise we won’t harm them again, if they’ll only refrain from killing us in large numbers…you know, a dozen is ok, but if they kill 3,000 in a couple hours, that gets really difficult for liberals on the political front.

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) Big Announcement: I Am Now Consulting For The Duncan Hunter Campaign

On February 3, Nathan Tabor from TCV Media got in touch with me and asked if I’d be interested in consulting for the Duncan Hunter campaign. We bantered back and forth, came to a basic understanding that Saturday, and then finalized the deal the next day. Long story short, TCV Media brought me on board to be their point person in building up buzz for Duncan Hunter online.

Iowa Voice (Brian) Stewart Smalley (Tries) To Go To Washington

Not being from Minnesota, I can’t tell you one way or another whether he has a chance or not…but I’m sure a few playbacks of his shrill performances on Air America would be enough to turn of just about any voter who was thinking of voting for him.

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) That Hudna Didn’t Last Long, Either

Remember the wedding between Hamas and Fatah, and the big reception held by the Saudis in Mecca? It seems that the bride and groom have started consulting lawyers already: