Super Tuesday: WV says "Huckabee and McCain? Six of one, a half-dozen of the other."

In what might amount to the best evidence yet that Huckabee remains in the Republican race only to prevent Mitt Romney from gaining the nomination, the Huckster won the West Virginia Caucus in the second round.

In the first round, Mitt Romney lead both Huckabee and McCain with also-ran Ron Paul being eliminated. In the second round, McCain's delegates switched to Huckabee, giving Huck the majority needed to win all of West Virginia's electoral delegates.

According to the Associated Press:

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee won 18 delegates here Tuesday as backers of rival John McCain threw him their support to prevent Mitt Romney from capturing the winner-take-all GOP state convention vote.

In first contest decided on Super Tuesday, Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, bested Romney on the second ballot with 51.5 percent of the 1,133 delegates attending the state GOP's first-ever presidential nominating convention. Romney was backed by 47.4 percent.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who poses the biggest threat nationally to front-runner McCain, had entered the event with the largest pledged bloc and attracted the largest vote—41 percent—on the first ballot.

Huckabee captured 33 percent on the first tally; McCain, 15 percent and Texas congressman Ron Paul, 10 percent.

Because no candidate had a majority, Paul, the last-place finisher, was eliminated for the second vote. The defection by McCain's delegates to Huckabee allowed him to prevail over Romney.

I will go on the record right now and say that, in the event that Romney pulls off enough upsets today to stay in the race or force a brokered convention, expect Huckabee to release his delegates to McCain -- if for no other reason than to secure his spot as McCain's VP choice.