57-25 for Maverick on Friday, 48-37 for Maverick today. The primary’s tomorrow so it’s probably too late for Huck to jump the canyon but he did pop over to casa Falwell yesterday to jam on “I’ll Fly Away” for the benefit of the local news crews, so who knows? The boss made this point last night but it bears repeating: Imagine how the media would be covering this kneecapping-of-McCain national tour if it were Romney, not Huck, who had stayed in to embark on it. Huckabee skates because he’s even better with the press than McCain is; consider this a sneak preview of how Maverick will be treated if he ends up facing Obama.

The hope was that he’d blow Huck out tomorrow night and that would shoo him to the door, but what if he finishes within single digits now? How does he drop out on that note? “I have no hope to win — even though I gained 25 points in about 48 hours”?

Update: Keep in mind, Virginia’s an open primary and the Messiah is pushing very hard indeed for independents and Republican crossovers. Every centrist he takes is one less for McCain.