Huckabee upsets McCain in Kansas, Louisiana

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee scored shocking upset wins over Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., this weekend in the race for the GOP nomination.

McCain, who is widely considered the Republican party’s presumptive nominee, lost in Kansas and Louisiana in his first electoral test after the withdrawal of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney from the race.

Huckabee won 60 percent of the vote in Kansas to McCain’s 24 percent. In Louisiana, he narrowly defeated McCain, 43 percent to 42 percent.

A third race, the Washington state caucuses, was too close to call. McCain narrowly led there, 26 percent to Huckabee’s 24 percent, with 83 percent of the vote counted.

Huckabee’s victories signaled a continued inability of McCain to win over social conservative members of his party. Though McCain has all but secured the Republican nomination, he has faced a barrage of criticism from such conservative stalwarts as Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.

Nevertheless, McCain remains the dominant favorite for the Republican nomination, holding 703 of the 1191 delegates required to earn the nomination. Huckabee trails badly, with 190 delegates.