Thoughts on the Mitt vs Mike/ Mitt vs Mac dynamic

As we all know, one of the things that is keeping Mitt Romney from being the definitive VP choice for McCain is the fact that he and Mitt didn't get along well during the primaries. At all. There was that contentious debate at the Ronald Reagan Library. Some of the famous lines ran somthing like this....

Mitt:..and I guess if the NYT endorses you, it means you're not a conservative."
~
Mac: I have you know, your home paper, the Boston Herald endorsed me, my friend."

And then there was the highly publicized spat about McCain saying that Romney was calling for Iraq-pullout timetables.

So it wasn't exactly a professional rivalry. On the other hand, Mitt Romney and John McCain seem more likely to get over their differences than Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.

What's the difference between their rivalries? For one thing, I got the feeling that Mike Huckabee was not competing for the nomination as he was against Mitt Romney. Even when Mitt dropped out, Huckabee stayed in. Why? Not because he was competing for the nominating or giving the "voters a choice." What he was really doing was catching up with Mitt Romney's delegate numbers.

Mike Huckabee made it personal against Mitt. What's my evidence? Consider these words uttered through-out the primaries...

1. “I wouldn’t know which – let’s see, do you hold this end, or this end?. I’d be like Mitt Romney eating fried chicken."

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/01/29/politics/fromtheroad/entry3764319.shtml

2. "If a man is dishonest to obtain a job, he'll [be dishonest] on the job." ~Huckabee in the infamous Huckabee Iowa Ad.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/31/540416.aspx?p=2

What's my thesis? McCain hated Romney because he was getting in the way. But Mike Huckabee hated Romney because he was jealous of Romney.

Now we're seeing a continuing Huckabee vs. Romney war: the recent petition (www.nomittforvp.com) by Huckabee supporters to openly oppose Romney as a VP pick.

Further narrative that Mike Huckabee is trying to outdo Romney: rumor has is that the "clock" on Mike Huckabee's website is announcement of a creation of a conservative group by Huckabee. Of course, Mitt Romney has said (before Huckabee) that he was working on a similar idea.