It was November 23, 1984. The Boston College Eagles were locked in a titanic struggle against the University of Miami Hurricanes at the Orange Bowl in Miami. With just over thirty seconds left in the game, Miami scored a touchdown to take a 45-41 lead.

Hoping for a miracle return, the Eagles took the ensuing kickoff but were able to return the ball only as far as their own 22-yard line. It looked as if all hope was lost. However, with just twenty-eight seconds left on the clock, the Eagles’ 5’-9" quarterback, Doug Flutie, completed three short passes and moved the ball to Miami’s 48-yard line.

Then, with just six seconds remaining, the never-say-die Flutie called the "55 Flood Tip," a last resort play in which all of the wide receivers flood the opponent’s end zone and attempt to tip the ball into the air… with one of them, hopefully, catching the tipped pass for a touchdown.

Flutie took the snap from center and dropped back to pass. Buying time for his receivers, he avoided a tackle and scrambled backward to his own 37-yard-line. Then, with no time left on the clock he stopped, looked downfield, spotted his receivers grouped together in the Hurricanes’ end zone, and launched a 65-yard pass into a 30 mph wind.

Wide receiver Gerard Phelan was standing at the center of the group, surrounded by his fellow Eagles receivers and at least four Hurricane defenders. He looked up, saw the ball, and it fell, untouched, into his hands. Boston College won the game 47-45 and Flutie’s "Hail Mary" touchdown pass went into the books as one of the greatest moments in sports history.

Now, in the 2008 Republican presidential primary, we have a presidential candidate, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, who insists that history might repeat itself in the political world.

As recently as two months ago, Senator John McCain was considered to be out of the race. He was having difficulty raising money and few influential Republicans were flocking to his banner. They knew all too well his history as a Republican maverick, and, more importantly, they knew far too much about his stubbornness, his independence, and his hot temper. Few in the party felt that he had the temperament to be president.

As one conservative writer, Dr. Jack Wheeler, has written, "… A McCain presidency will be the destruction of the Republican Party.  It needs to be rebuilt, not wiped out with the field clear for the fascists of the left to consolidate power and eliminate freedom."

Strong words, but fairly typical of the rhetoric among many conservatives as McCain was one of three, then two, men left in the Republican primary. Can it be reversed? Can McCain somehow convince conservatives that his many forays "off the conservative reservation" were mere anomalies, products of an irresistible urge to reach out to Democrats? That remains to be seen, although most conservatives will likely close ranks around him once they are faced with the stark reality that Barack Hussein Obama could become the 44th President of the United States if they do otherwise.

And now that the New York Times has put on its National Enquirer hat and wielded the smear brush against McCain, conservatives are naturally pushed toward embracing him. The Times has long aided and abetted McCain’s occasional forays into the land of liberalism, but in this instance their editors have apparently failed to understand that, while McCain may be viewed as a "bastard" in conservative ranks, he is "their bastard." Although conservatives, generally, are not fond of McCain, they still view an attack on their "bastard" as being an attack on them.

Meanwhile, the Times attack on McCain has pushed Mike Huckabee’s campaign so far off the front pages as to be almost invisible. He is but a gnat swirling in McCain’s wake, but still he persists.

Why does he persist? While on a brief trip to the Cayman Islands he was asked precisely that question. He replied that, as matters now stand, his candidacy is his job; he has a monthly mortgage payment to make and he gets a monthly paycheck from his campaign. But to be even more crass, it also allows him to further burnish his name ID so that, as a business commodity, he’ll be able to command larger honoraria on the speakers’ circuit.

Is that illegal? No. Is it unethical and politically futile? Yes. But that’s Mike Huckabee. When he is reminded that it is all but numerically impossible for him to outpoll John McCain in the delegate search he is fond of explaining that, when he went to college, he didn’t "major in math," he "majored in miracles…," which is exactly what he’s hoping for.

Mike Huckabee is the "Hail Mary" candidate of 2008. He is Doug Flutie in candidate’s clothing. He is also Huey Long in preacher’s clothing and he should head for the sidelines while there is still time to either rehabilitate John McCain, or, in the absence of a suitable rehabilitation, hope for a revolution within the Republican Party and a brokered convention.