Pastor without a prayer, Huckabee stays in U.S. race

Republican Mike Huckabee probably hasn't got a prayer in his bid for the U.S. presidency. But the guitar strumming, joke-cracking Baptist preacher may be a longshot for the second White House job.

The former Arkansas governor remains behind rivals Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney but did better than expected in Super Tuesday voting, drawing on support from his evangelical base in the South.

"We're still in this, we've been saying that for a long time," Huckabee said on CNN on Tuesday night.

Political analysts say only a miracle could push him over the top - but they're not ready to consign Huckabee to the electoral wilderness.

"Huckabee represents the social conservative wing of the party right now and I think he's in it at least partly for the movement," said David Domke, a professor of communication at the University of Washington.

"If he steps out of the race, that part of the party has no influence and so they appreciate him staying and will reward him for that, perhaps by pushing for him to get the vice presidential nomination," he told Reuters.

The conservative blogs also have been promoting the idea of Huckabee as vice presidential nominee -- provided McCain wins. He would help McCain by providing the conservative credentials that some Republicans accuse the senator of lacking.

There is no love lost between Huckabee and Romney, whose camp on Tuesday accused the folksy preacher of being a "spoiler" when McCain backers in West Virginia threw their support behind Huckabee in the second round of balloting.

That enabled Huckabee to win the state after Romney had led in the first round. It was his first victory since he won the opening nominating contest in Iowa.

RUNNING FOR VP?

"There's a possibility that Huckabee could be running for VP," said Doug Hixson, 36, a Southern Baptist pastor in the Texas panhandle town of Pampa.

"McCain is a little more moderate than Huckabee might be on some of the issues but I think with Huckabee as his VP it would bring in the evangelical vote," he told Reuters.

Huckabee also exerts influence on the race as the poster boy for conservative evangelicals, a crucial base of support for the Republican Party united by their strong opposition to abortion and gay marriage.

Many evangelicals remain suspicious of McCain despite his opposition to abortion rights as well as the Vietnam veteran and former prisoner-of-war's tough stance on national security.

But McCain does not support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and he is regarded as soft on other issues such as immigration.

James Dobson, the influential founder of the evangelical advocacy group Focus on the Family, said on Tuesday that if McCain had the Republican nomination he would not vote at all in November - a signal to his followers to do the same.

"Should Sen. McCain capture the nomination as many assume, I believe this general election will offer the worst choices for president in my lifetime ... I simply will not cast a ballot for president for the first time in my life," he said.

Evangelicals account for a fifth of the U.S. population and at least a third or more of the Republican electorate, giving them electoral clout in a country where religion and politics often mix.