Washington Caucus

As Mike Hucakbee struggles to remain relevant in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, GOP State Chairman Luke Esser continues to be on the hot seat. Huckabee has been critical of Esser’s decision to leave about 13% of the GOP primary vote uncounted – a move that assured John McCain of a victory in the Washington caucuses. There is no evidence that a complete count would have changed the results – Esser is viewed as a fair kind of guy and local insiders don’t think he had any intention of playing games. But still, this isn’t the kind of national press Esser wants for Washington.

One of the winners of the Washington Republican Caucus was gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi.  The Rossi campaign took advantage of a large turnout of Republican voters throughout the state to, in many places, use the venue as an opportunity to promote their campaign and recruit volunteers.

On the trail today, Mike Huckabee says he’s not ready to concede defeat in the Washington Republican Caucus. The latest numbers show John McCain leading Huckabee, 25.5% to 23.7%, with Ron Paul running a relatively close third at 20.6%. Huckabee told NBC’s Tim Russert that he’s looking at a possible legal challenge since Republicans stopped counting at 87.2% of the precincts reporting.