Which of the big three Republicans would have done worst in 2008?

[So rightwing that I broke the Political Compass!]

Romney, McCain or Huckabee?

[tpfkaw]

Romney

[Mehmentum]

Huckabee.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

McCain. He ran a horrible campaign.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Everyone of them had their glaring weaknesses.

McCain was clueless about the economy, too old and erratic. The Sarah Palin pick must be one of the worst decisions made by a presidential candidate ever.

Romney was a phony and a flip floper. Not to mention that running as a millionaire businessman during the Lehmann Brothers collapse would be terrible optics.

Huckabee was too socially conservative for the general electorate, too fiscally liberal for his base, and a horrible fundraiser. 

Overall, we'll never know.

[bgwah]

Leaning McCain... Huckabee is underestimated, I think, and Romney might not have picked Palin at least.

[tpfkaw]

Huckabee is by far the strongest.  He would flip North Carolina, Indiana, and Florida, have a better-than-even shot at Ohio and Virginia, and could make a solid effort in Iowa.  This at the cost of doing worse in states that McCain lost anyway (the western states, New Hampshire) and possibly Arizona flipping to Obama.  If he keeps the same opposition to the bailout that he had IRL, I'd actually give him better-than-even odds of winning.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I'd say that Obama vs. Huck would be:

Obama vs. Romney:

[Badger]

Huck was and is a rapture right conservative, and didn't hide it at well at all in 08. He couldn't "pass" to many non-evengelical swing voters the way W did. Huck would've crashed hard IMHO.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Huck was and is a rapture right conservative, and didn't hide it at well at all in 08. He couldn't "pass" to many non-evengelical swing voters the way W did. Huck would've crashed hard IMHO.

Indeed. But he was much more charismatic and likable than the other two and his economic populism would have played well, especially against a TARP voting senator like Obama.

[GLPman]

Given the shape of the economy in the Fall of 2008, I honestly believe that Romney would have done the best if he played his cards right. As for who would have done the worst, it's hard to decide between McCain and Huckabee. McCain's connection to Bush severly hurt him, as did he selection of Palin. He did, however, have the Maverick card going for him. Huckabee, on the other hand, could have also been seen as out of touch or "just another conservative." An Obama-Huckabee matchup probably would have resulted in the GOP holding states like Indiana and North Carolina but losing states like Arizona and Missouri.

[tpfkaw]

An Obama-Huckabee matchup probably would have resulted in the GOP holding states like Indiana and North Carolina but losing states like Arizona and Missouri.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

An Obama-Huckabee matchup probably would have resulted in the GOP holding states like Indiana and North Carolina but losing states like Arizona and Missouri.

Dude, are you trying to give me a seizure?

[SmokingCricket]

I think Romney would have done worst in '08.

[stegosaurus]

Huckabee probably. The whole fair tax thing would have been interesting to see debated, though.

[Dancing with Myself]

McCain won the nomination 8 years too late, he was told to run a viable campaign in 2008. He made so many mistakes with the campaign it was not even funny. He was the worst of the three in my opinon