Huckabee and Hillary

Since the Potomac Primaries, Virginia, Maryland and D.C. pundits, campaign insiders and seasoned strategists from both parties have been saying that Mike Huckabee should drop out of the race. It’s gone so far that he even appeared on “Saturday Night Live” to make light of the situation and his mathematical impossibility of winning.

Over the weekend, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) appeared on the same show as people have started saying that she should drop out of the race if she doesn’t win in Ohio and Texas. Unlike Clinton, Huckabee was never far ahead or strongly considered as a presidential candidate early on, but isn’t it fascinating how you can sit on top of the world and it can turn over in 24 hours? The seemingly unstoppable juggernaut that was the Clintons’ (two for the price of one) campaign is now facing a very serious reality of having to drop out of the presidential marathon. However, the ways these two candidates are handling the pressure could not be more different.

Huckabee is taking the dignified road of becoming an alternative even if he can’t make it and avoiding negative campaigning. Clinton, on the other hand, started out negative and as the boat sinks farther into the waters of defeat the venom becomes both more toxic and frequent. She’s lost her dignity and class and has sunk into the gutter of political campaigning. If she wants to have any chance of running in 2012 or 2016 she and her husband will have to be magnanimous and withdraw from the election as the polls and results dictate.

They must immediately show that they care more about the party and the Democrats winning the White House than their own legacy, ego and the self-absorption displayed in the last few weeks. Huckabee is showing such dignity and respect for the process that he continues to win the hearts of many Americans who would have never considered supporting him because he’s shown the uncanny ability not to take himself too seriously. Perhaps the Clintons could learn something from this perpetual underdog.