Huckabee

His name sounds like a chain of family restaurants. His smile is big and deep-dimpled, like the Campbell Soup kids. When Mike Huckabee smiles at you, you feel like smiling back. But not always. The former Arkansas governor's recent surge in Iowa polls has wiped the smile from his fellow Republican presidential candidates' lips. In a month, Mr. Huckabee surged from the second tier of Republican candidates to a statistical tie for first place in this week's Des Moines Register poll. Of the likely Republican caucus-goers surveyed, Mr. Huckabee scored 29 percent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney scored 24 percent and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani scored 13 percent.

I saw a lot of Iowa straw poll coverage this weekend, and some of it was pretty awful. But nothing made me want to gag like this exchange between Mike Huckabee and Michele Bachmann Saturday night on Huckabee's weekly conflict-of-interest hour that Fox tries to present as a variety/talk show. Less than 48 hours after Fox News received high praise from me and other critics and analysts for its handling of the GOP presidential candidates debate, comes this sorry exchange. And understand, the praise Fox News received for Thursday's debate efforts was a result of the tough, journalistic questions posed by Bret Baier and Chris Wallace.

Mike Huckabee wants to put my pal Harry out of business. Harry does my taxes. Mr. Huckabee wants to make tax preparers obsolete by getting rid of the federal income tax. He'll get rid of the Internal Revenue Service too, if he can. On that issue, the Arkansas governor belongs to a mighty large club. Few Republican presidential candidates ever went broke calling for tax cuts. Some, like Mr. Huckabee, just take it to a further extreme. Now that he is surging in the polls, people are beginning to take seriously what he has to say. It turns out, despite all of the attention that the former Baptist minister's religious beliefs, social conscience and friendly teddy-bear personality have received, his war on the income tax is a major reason for his surge.

I'm with you, Huck. I couldn't agree more with Mike Huckabee, who dissed Natalie Portman last week. Portman, outrageously, won the best actress Oscar for her pinched-face, baby-voiced mewling as a tortured ballerina in "Black Swan. " A travesty! Especially when obviously the award should have gone to Jennifer Lawrence as a tough backwoods girl battling her extended meth-brewing clan to save her own family in "Winter's Bone. " What? What's that you say? Huckabee actually was slamming Portman not for her undeserved statuette but for the unwed actress' baby bump?

WASHINGTON -- Mike Huckabee, the ascendant Republican presidential candidate in Iowa, is enjoying a surge of support across the country - and Rudolph W. Giuliani seems to be paying the biggest price, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found. Huckabee has pulled into second place, close behind Giuliani, in the national survey of Republican-leaning voters. The results signal that Huckabee's candidacy is catching fire beyond Iowa - where several recent polls have shown him with a slight lead or in a virtual dead heat with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who long had led in the state where the nomination process officially starts.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa -- With just over a week to go until the Iowa caucuses, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mike Huckabee brought out the big guns. But only Huckabee shot anything. The New York Democrat's weapon of choice was her husband, who in a packed high school auditorium echoed the refrain that all the candidates have been furiously embracing, saying his wife was a proven agent of change. "Hillary has a unbroken record of making decisions that have had a positive change in other people's lives," former President Bill Clinton told the crowd of 500 people.

Gov. Mike Huckabee's supporters pass out signs proclaiming, "I Like Mike." But the Republican candidate's starkly different speeches in Washington and College Park yesterday showed that there's more than one Mike to like. Speaking to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, the former Arkansas governor vowed to wage war against "Islamo-fascism," if elected president. He quoted from the Bible, boasted of hard-core conservative values, touted "law and order" and the need to close U.S. borders to illegal immigrants.

LAST WEEK, Chuck Norris, the Grade-D former action "star" - and Mike Huckabee mouthpiece - declared that he thought John McCain was "too old" to become president - he would be 72 at the time of inauguration - and "too frail" to withstand the stresses of the office. Norris actually said he assumed McCain would die in office and the vice president would have to finish his term. Two points to make here. One - Chuck Norris is an idiot. I don't mean idiot like intelligent people doing foolish things.

Indianola, Iowa -- An affable manner and wisecracking style helped Mike Huckabee vault to the top of the Republican presidential field. But the power of his counterpunch might determine whether he's still there after this week's Iowa caucuses. With the first voter test of the 2008 campaign just three days away, Huckabee is scrambling to stop Mitt Romney from overtaking him as a tight caucus contest grows intensely personal. He's striking back after weeks of attacks on his record as Arkansas governor from a variety of critics, led by Romney, while also confronting new questions about his lack of foreign policy experience.

Tonight, the national spotlight will shine on the winners of Maryland's presidential primary. If pre-election polls are accurate, the victors could be declared moments after the polls close at 8 p.m. Otherwise, surprises may be in store. Campaign strategists and politicians in both parties will be sifting through vote totals and exit-poll data throughout the evening, regardless of who wins, even as the candidates move on to other states. Neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton is expected to be anywhere near the shores of the Chesapeake or banks of the Potomac to declare victory tonight.

"I'm a conservative, but I'm not mad at everybody over it. " — Mike Huckabee I'm writing this to say just one thing: I like Mike. That would be Michael Dale Huckabee, former Baptist preacher, former governor of Arkansas, former GOP presidential candidate, current Fox News personality, the guy quoted above being flagrantly reasonable during an interview on "The Daily Show. " I like Mike. The proximate reason I say that is his recent refusal to support a knuckleheaded idea being touted by many of his conservative brethren: altering the 14th Amendment to curtail illegal immigration.

Greg Waterworth began debating politics with his mother when he was about 12 years old. They would stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning, each arguing their points, he said. "Sometimes I defended the Republicans, and sometimes I defended the Democrats," said Waterworth of Forest Hill. "Usually the argument ended when things turned personal. I went to my room and slammed the door, and my mother went to hers." He learned a lot during his heated discussions with his mother. Five years later, he got his inaugural glance at politics when he was selected to be a volunteer page at the Republican National Convention.

NORFOLK, Va. -- SuAnne Bryant is a self-described conservative - a "religious values" voter who opposes early withdrawal from Iraq. Yesterday, she voted for Barack Obama. "It's not so much a vote for him. It's a vote against Hillary," said Bryant, 40, who, like all voters in Virginia, could participate in either party's primary. Obama and Hillary Clinton, the two Democratic senators, are their party's presidential candidates. Bryant and other conservatives in this region of southeastern Virginia - known for its large concentrations of evangelical Christians - described themselves yesterday as a movement without a candidate, or at least a candidate who could win. For many, the choice in 2000 and 2004 was clear - George W. Bush.

John McCain's guy in Maryland was up early yesterday, sticking signs in the frozen ground - for Mike Huckabee. Former Del. Don Murphy, McCain's Maryland campaign coordinator, also arranged for Huckabee's wife, Janet, to have lunch with the Arbutus Roundtable on Monday. Traitor in the McCain camp? Murphy, an Annapolis lobbyist who's been campaigning for the Arizona senator for eight years, admits he's sleeping with the enemy. His wife, Gloria, a preschool teacher, is co-chair of Huckabee's Baltimore County campaign.

Tonight, the national spotlight will shine on the winners of Maryland's presidential primary. If pre-election polls are accurate, the victors could be declared moments after the polls close at 8 p.m. Otherwise, surprises may be in store. Campaign strategists and politicians in both parties will be sifting through vote totals and exit-poll data throughout the evening, regardless of who wins, even as the candidates move on to other states. Neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton is expected to be anywhere near the shores of the Chesapeake or banks of the Potomac to declare victory tonight.

Sen. John McCain made a final push through Maryland and Virginia yesterday in hopes of locking up today's "Potomac Primary" - and proving that he can rally conservatives to his cause. But his biggest remaining rival, Mike Huckabee, refused to give up on the region, campaigning across Virginia while his wife stumped in Maryland. Flanked by Republican heavyweights, including former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., at an Annapolis hotel, McCain acknowleged that it could take "a little time" for the right wing of his party to support him, despite his status as the presumptive GOP nominee.

Sen. John McCain made a final push through Maryland and Virginia yesterday in hopes of locking up today's "Potomac Primary" - and proving that he can rally conservatives to his cause. But his biggest remaining rival, Mike Huckabee, refused to give up on the region, campaigning across Virginia while his wife stumped in Maryland. Flanked by Republican heavyweights, including former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., at an Annapolis hotel, McCain acknowleged that it could take "a little time" for the right wing of his party to support him, despite his status as the presumptive GOP nominee.

LEXINGTON, S.C. -- Mike Huckabee is threatening to overtake John McCain in the first Southern test of the 2008 campaign, today's Republican primary in South Carolina. With unemployment and anti-immigrant sentiment on the rise, Huckabee, one of two Southerners in the race, has pulled even with McCain, according to the latest polling. The Arizona senator had led here since his victory in New Hampshire this month. "Being in South Carolina is like being at home," Huckabee tells voters here.

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham was born in Chicago, Oct. 26, 1947, the daughter of Hugh and Dorothy Howell Rodham. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School. After graduation, Hillary Rodham moved to Arkansas and married Bill Clinton, a Yale classmate who would later become governor of Arkansas and the 42nd president of the United States. They have one daughter, Chelsea. In Arkansas, Hillary Clinton ran a legal aid clinic for the poor, became a partner with the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock and led a task force to improve the public schools.

Gov. Mike Huckabee's supporters pass out signs proclaiming, "I Like Mike." But the Republican candidate's starkly different speeches in Washington and College Park yesterday showed that there's more than one Mike to like. Speaking to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, the former Arkansas governor vowed to wage war against "Islamo-fascism," if elected president. He quoted from the Bible, boasted of hard-core conservative values, touted "law and order" and the need to close U.S. borders to illegal immigrants.