In 1988, Michael Dukakis arguably lost the Presidential election to George H.W. Bush because of the Willie Horton ads.  For those that don't remember, Willie Horton was given a furlough from his sentence of murder during a robbery.  While on furlough approved by then Governor Dukakis, Horton kidnapped and brutally raped two women.  He was re-arrested and is currently serving a life term with no hope for release.

Fast forward to this past weekend, Maurice Clemmons a felon with a violent history and whose sentence was commuted by then Gov. Mike Huckabee was involved in the coldblooded shooting and killing 4 police officers.  Today, this felon was shot dead resisting arrest.  Now fingers are pointing at Gov. Huckabee as being responsible for what had happened.

Gov. Huckabee might have been partially responsible for the actions of Maurice Clemmons this past weekend.  However, the judicial system as a whole and especially the judicial system in Washington State that failed to lock up a repeated parole violator is mostly to blame.  First, how many times has a felon been paroled only to commit a horrible crime?  Do we fault the parole board?  Many times, the answer is no.  Second, Gov. Huckabee commuted Clemmons' sentence because Clemmons was a minor when sentenced to what Huckabee, the parole board, and the judge perceived as being a harsh sentence for a 16 year old. 

What the Mainstream Media fail to report is that the US Supreme Court during their last session ruled with the exact same reasoning!  Where are the cat calls and scorn toward the US Supreme Court because their ruling will arguably release or limit punishment for those that acted like an adult criminal but were sentenced when they were still technically minors.

To play the "Butterfly Effect" game is a red herring.  There is no way that Gov. Huckabee or Gov. Dukakis could have known that early release or commutation of sentence would end up in tragedy.  Lacking the ability to predict the future is no excuse however because the statistics involving recidivism of released prisoners is damning.  This is the failure of the US judicial system that places more emphasis on the front door part of the judicial process than dealing with the back door when criminals are released back into society.

No matter what happens or what has happened, Gov. Huckabee's hopes for the White House in 2012 have all been washed away.  Gov. Dukakis could not overcome Willie Horton, and Gov. Huckabee will be hard pressed to overcome Maurice Clemmons.  The Republican field for the 2012 Presidential Election is starting to get trimmed before anyone has even declared their intentions to run.  A very unceremonial end to a viable candidate.