Military Vets-National Security

Erik Erickson of Red State, echoed and amplified by NRO's Jim Geraghty make a valid point about a key core of the GOP: vets and national security voters. Romney didn't have them, and they saved McCain in South Carolina.

One bit of personal insight: Ex-Gov. Beasley was urging the Huckabee campaign to make a major national security-oriented speech in military-oriented Charleston right after New Hampshire. The campaign wanted to, but it never got off the ground (the woes of having an underfunded effort). It might have been a credibility-building speech for Huckabee, perhaps enough to peel some votes away from Thompson. Huckabee would have never won Charleston, or the vets, but it might have done enough to broaden the appeal just enough.

Ah, well. If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all be happy at Christmas. Oh, and buy Jim's book.