Roney and McCain dealing in the back room or Romney trying to keep a finger in the pie

Previous to Mitt Romney's withdrawal from the Republican candidate race, as the remaining runners faced down Super Tuesday, many wondered if Mike Huckabee remained in the race in order to draw votes away from Romney. There was talk among republicans and democrats on the purpose of Huckabee's presence in those primaries and caucuses.

I only heard one or two voices asking why we didn't speculate on why Mitt Romney remained in the race. At the time, I thought that was ridiculous, but has time proven me wrong? Suddenly, Mitt Romney, who had little to do with McCain has cast his vote to him and asked his delegates to vote for him. Huh? What? Did anyone else do a double take at this news?

Suddenly, Mitt Romney and John McCain have joined lots and, with Romney's delegates thrown into the mix, they have pushed Mike Huckabee even deeper into the back lot of running candidates. He faced a daunting task in his attempt to take on McCain before this happened, but now, the mountain he must climb is probably insurmountable.

Many will find it interesting to watch Huckabee's response to Romney's endorsement. Will he conceded defeat and pull out of the race? Will he draw up his courage and keep fighting for the nomination? Has he been wronged by the suppositions about his back room meeting of the minds with McCain? Have we been duped by a distraction technique?

Only time will tell what Huckabee's response will be, but now speculation moves to the connection between Romney and McCain. Have they been working together from the beginning? Is Romney so against Huckabee that he threw his hat in with McCain to give him a slap in the face? We may never know the answers to these questions, but this event did raise questions about the pair.

Back room deals are nothing new; they've always gone on in the shadowy backgrounds of our political scene. Some will say I'm crazy to even speculate about this, but some of you have wondered the same thing.

Does it matter in the end? Maybe so. It will at least matter to Huckabee and his supporters. It may even matter to Romney's supporters who wonder why he is supporting the less conservative candidate. I know it matters to me as I watch to see what unfurls from this endorsement and its consequences. One thing you can say about the US presidential elections of 2008: They are NOT boring!