Sunday Snapshot

The Sunday shows are still focused on WH '08:

Mike Huckabee was on "Meet the Press" this weekend:

On the delegate count: "I don't know how the math works out, but there's always the chance something stumbles. The thing is it's not just how many I need, Senator McCain also needs that many. And if he doesn't get that many, he's not the nominee either. This thing could go to the convention. Who knows? But the one thing I know, when people say, 'Isn't it a rather complicated and convoluted path to victory?' You bet it is. But it's a real easy path to defeat. All I have to do is walk off the field, game's over."

On McCain: "I do think he's got some challenges with not just the evangelicals but, frankly, the economic conservatives because of his opposition to the Bush tax cuts. To many of the conservatives, because of his views on immigration that certainly weren't in the mainstream. They were way out of the mainstream and quite unorthodox. He has been often the voice in the wilderness, and I have great respect. As you know, I think it's interesting that the two most civil campaigns are the two that're still on their feet in the Republican Party. That's a healthy thing. We've not attacked each other. I think we have mutual respect. I like John McCain. I've said publicly, even on debate stages when I was debating him, that I thought he was a man of honor. And I do believe that. So this isn't about personal hostility, but there are significant differences that we have on the human life amendment, on embryonic stem cell research on human embryos, on the McCain-Feingold campaign finance act -- which I think is one of the worst things that ever happened to election law in this country -- and on the Bush tax cuts. And so I think that there's room for us to have that conversation."

Asked about a cong. investigation into his supporter Rev. Kenneth Copeland: "As far as I know, he will fulfill his responsibilities. He's taking legal counsel. But you know what? The whole issue with Kenneth Copeland/Chuck Grassley is not an issue that I'm dealing with as a presidential candidate. It's not a part of whether or not I ought to be running for president. And what I'm saying is that I think he's taking his legal counsel, finding out what he's supposed to do and where he's supposed to cooperate, but not in, in any way yielding over the constitutional rights he has under the First Amendment to be not just a person of free speech, but also a person of freedom of religion."

Asked if by telling Copeland he stands with him if he's interfering in a cong. investigation: "No, it's not interfering with an investigation. It'd be interfering if I called up Chuck Grassley and said lay off Kenneth Copeland. I've not done that, nor would, would I do that. Because I think Kenneth Copeland will ultimately have to provide some responsible answer to the questions that have been raised. And that's fine. And Senator Grassley, he can request whatever information he needs. He'll have the legal authority to do what he does, or he won't be able to get it done. That's all in the world that, that has to happen."

Asked if he would accept the VP slot if asked: "I'm not going to be asked. I think it's pretty evident that there would be a whole lot of people on the list long, long before me, and one of them would say yes. So there's no point in my speculating it" (NBC, 2/10).

He was also on "Face the Nation":

Asked if he's staying race: "Well, I am. ... And when I hear people say it's practically impossible, nothing is impossible. This country was built on the impossible. And it's impossible that I'm still in the race. That's what most people would have said a few months ago. In politics, so many things can happen that can change the landscape overnight. A candidate can say something, do something; something can happen, and everything can change. People say the path to victory is very complicated. And boy, they're right. The path to defeat is really simple. All I've got to do is walk off the field."

Asked about the math suggesting the delegates aren't there: "Well, it could happen that, over the course of the next few months, not only winning primaries, but there's no guarantee that a lot of the people who have voted are that absolutely sold on what they've done. I think that's what we are seeing in the Republican party. So what happens if we get to the convention and nobody has yet really captured the nomination? That's possible. Then all bets are off. And it could end up that we would go to the convention and pick a nominee."

More: "I'm prepared to stay in until somebody has 1,191 delegates because that's the magic number at which a person is the nominee of the party."

Asked if he's running for VP: "No. I don't think Senator McCain would select me anyway. I'm not sure I would select him. I think that it's a little almost off the chart to think that he would end up selecting me. So, there's no illusion on my part that if I hang in here and keep running against him, he's liable to say, oh, thanks for hanging there and running against me for so long. I think I'll pick you as a running mate" (CBS, 2/10).

PUNDIT IN CHIEF

Pres. Bush appeared on "Fox News Sunday":

He was asked if McCain is a "true conservative": "Absolutely. I know him well. I know his convictions. I know the principles that drive him and no doubt in my mind he is a true conservative. Now I do want to make sure that you don't rope me into getting into this primary before it ends because we have another conservative candidate in Mike Huckabee still running."

Asked about conservatives criticizing McCain: "I think that if John is the nominee, he has got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a solid conservative and I'll be glad to help him."

More: "You can't please all the people all the time. But part of a campaign is for the nominee of the party to rally the party and to rally the folks that are going to end up being the base from which he operates and I had to do that. Every nominee has had to do that and whoever our nominee is going to have to do it. It's just the process. Primaries tend to divide up the parties and there is a period of time in which the candidate who is in the process of becoming the leader of a party, must work to bring as much of the party together as possible. That's just the normal course of primary politics."

On Huckabee: "I remember Mike when he weighed a lot and I'll never forget getting off at the airplane and there he was at the foot of Air Force One and I couldn't recognize him. And the reason I bring that up is he's disciplined. He sets a goal and he takes care of business."

FNC's Wallace: "There's been a lot of talk about former President Clinton crossing the line in some of his attacks against Barack Obama. Your father certainly never did any of that against your opponents back in 2000. ... Do you feel that he's acted inappropriately as the former president?"

Bush: "First of all, my father's wife was not running."

Wallace: "His son was."

Bush: "There's a bit of a difference between father and son and father and wife and secondly, I can understand why President Clinton wants to campaign hard for his wife. And yeah, those accusations that Bill Clinton's a racist I think has been wrong. I just don't agree with it" (2/10).

FROM THE POLITICAL STAGE

There were several politicos and strategists on a variety of the shows this weekend. Here are their takes:

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-MD): "If I had my wish, I wish that every state had a primary so more people could vote rather than had caucuses. When it comes to the superdelegates, that is part of the process, much like having a Congress that's elected every two years and a Senate elected every six years. This is going to go a long way. We have yet to hear from a number of big states, including Ohio and Texas."

More: "Superdelegates are part of this mix, and I might add that the reason the super delegates were added to the Democratic Party's selection process was to make sure that we had a candidate that can go the distance and be able to win in the fall. In other words, to create a mix of not only caucus voices across the state and the popular voices from the primary, but also people in states and cities, and mayors, who actually have to do the hard work of governing and who depend so very much on a federal partner that for the last seven years of George Bush had been totally absent" ("This Week," ABC, 2/10).

Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA): "The super delegates aren't pledged. The elected delegates are, but the superdelegates are really in flux until they cast their votes at the convention. But I think what's going to happen is this. You're going to see great movement of the superdelegates with the momentum of this campaign" ("This Week," ABC, 2/10).

Tom DeLay, asked since the Dems are so united if the GOP will unite behind a nominee: "No. We don't know yet. ... The Democrats -- they've been out of power for eight years now. They are just very, very hungry, and they'll come together and support anybody that calls themselves Democrat. We are not there. We are a dispirited party that's trying to rebuild itself."

DeLay, asked if Huckabee had earned the VP slot: "Not yet. I think he's earning it. It's going to be really interesting to see how Texas votes on March the 4th, whether they vote for Huckabee or McCain" ("This Week," ABC, 2/10).

Karl Rove, on McCain: "I didn't sign on, but I did contribute. I think Republicans get to make up their own minds when they do it, but my mind was that he was our presumptive nominee, and it was time for me to write him a check."

Asked if he thinks HRC will get the Dem nod: "I do. I think we're likely to see her fall behind in the delegate count, here in February, because the contests advantage Senator Obama, but I think we're likely to see, then, in March and April, for her to climb back into the lead" ("Face the Nation," CBS, 2/10).

Dem strategist Joe Trippi: "Texas is a weird situation, where they have a primary and a caucus. And I think Obama's done so well in these caucuses that there's an actual chance that if they target the caucus part of Texas, they can win -- he could actually surprise everybody and win Texas. And now I'm hearing that he's sending his best Iowa operatives, his caucus operatives to Texas. ... That's the state I would watch right now as we go into March."

Asked if the Dem contest will go all the way to the convo: "I don't think there's any doubt about that" ("Face the Nation," CBS, 2/10).

House Min. Leader John Boehner: "John McCain is a solid conservative. It's not that I've agreed with him on every position he's taken over the years. But when you look at his record on fiscal responsibility, when you look at his record on getting rid of wasteful Washington spending, look at his record on a strong national defense and leading forward in the fight on terrorism, he's a solid conservative. But clearly, he has some work to do to consolidate conservatives around the country, and he's doing that" ("Late Edition," CNN, 2/10).

Ex-Sec/State Colin Powell, on who he's voting for: "I have voted for members of both parties in the course of my adult life. ... I will vote for the candidate I think can do the best job for America, whether that candidate is a Republican, a Democrat or an independent."

More: "I am not in the endorsement business right now. I'm an American citizen that is examining all of the candidates, listening carefully. And now that we've sort of cleared out the primary underbrush, if I may say that without being disrespectful to any of the candidates who have left, we now have a real campaign before us. And we'll see how the Democrats sort this out. Looks like John McCain is going to be the Republican candidate, and I will watch and measure them well. It's not just the candidates. I want to see what the party is thinking. I want to see what the debates look like. I want to see, you know, what kind of appointments might be made in a government or on a Supreme Court. I want to look at a whole range of issues before I decide who I'm going to vote for" ("Late Edition," CNN, 2/10).

ROUNDTABLE ROUNDUP

The "Meet the Press" roundtable discussed WH "08:

Washington Post's Broder: "This is a year where the scenarios have been invariably wrong. And so if our current scenario is it's all going to come down to the superdelegates, that's probably going to be wrong. There are still really important events before we get to that stage. There are primaries in Ohio, in Texas, in Pennsylvania; critical states for the general election. We don't know who's going to prevail in any of those three states. My guess is that we will be surprised once again, and that the voters will still have a big voice in this outcome."

NBC's Todd: "I'll say this for McCain. I feel like I've seen a weak nominee like this, you know, where you feel like that he has a weak support. Bill Clinton at about this point in 1992, he had the nomination."

The "Fox News Sunday" roundtable discussed WH '08:

Weekly Standard's Kristol: "When people look up on Tuesday night and see Obama in the lead in elected delegates and in popular vote, I think we may see polls switching in Texas and Ohio, and Obama's campaign will have a ton of money to go up on the air in Texas and Ohio and persuade those working-class white voters and Hispanic voters that they might want to reconsider being a little friendlier to Obama."

The "Late Edition" roundtable discussed WH '08:

CNN's Toobin, on Obama's argument that super delegates should follow their state's wishes: "By that logic, it would mean that Ted Kennedy and John Kerry and Deval Patrick, his three big supporters in Massachusetts, would have to vote for Hillary Clinton."

The "This Week" roundtable discussed WH '08:

Dem strategist/Super delegate Donna Brazile: "My fear is that the Super Delegates will make this decision before the voters in key states to come will decide. I think that there's time. 1,133 delegates outstanding as of last night. There's still time for the pledged delegates to somehow or another sort this out so Super Delegates will not have to make this decision. Look, we don't wear capes. We can't hear the sound of a pin drop miles away. We don't drive bat mobiles. And no one wants to see us in spandex. We should represent the will of the voters of this country and we should not stop this contest prematurely in order to rush the decision" [EMILY GOODIN].