Last night’s open thread for the Wisconsin primary contained a comment stating that CNN was reporting that Mike Huckabee is leaving the race. The SLOG masses rose in anguish: was the season of political miracles really over?

The truth? Mike Huckabee is staying in. Possibly forever. Mostly in the interests of “the foot soldiers of the Republican Party.”

Huckabee scoffed at the notion that his staying in the race hurts Republicans by preventing McCain from starting a general election campaign. The idea that Americans “can’t afford to have an election, we just need to have a coronation” is “the most un-American, un-Republican kind of comment and attitude I think I’ve ever heard,” he said.

Earlier in the article, the size of the sacrifice Huckabee is making for those foot soldiers becomes pretty clear:

Arizona Senator John McCain beat Huckabee yesterday in contests in Wisconsin and Washington State. With those victories, McCain added to his lead of about 600 delegates over the former Arkansas governor.

Huckabee campaign manager Ed Rollins gives the Washington Post a subtle hint as to what their thought process for the course of the campaign is, and how they intend to pull this one out:

Meanwhile, Huckabee’s campaign manager was gleefully proclaiming the possibility that the former governor could force an all-out fight at the Republican National Convention this summer. “It’d be great fun,” Ed Rollins said on CNN.