January 29, 2007 6:00 AM

Mark my words: Vilsack vs. Huckabee in 2008. Or not....

At long last, he’s made it official: Mike Huckabee announces he’s running for president. The nation reacts as one with a cry of : “Who?”

Former Gov. Huckabee to jump into 2008 race

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) — Republican Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and a favorite of conservatives, will take the first step in a 2008 presidential bid, an official told The Associated Press on Friday. Huckabee, 51, plans to file papers on Monday establishing an exploratory committee that will allow him to raise money and hire campaign staff, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting a formal announcement. Huckabee faces difficult odds as he enters a crowded Republican field topped by better-known, better-funded candidates….

It’s too bad that the 2008 Presidential campaign can’t be played out in a single-elimination tournament like the NCAA Division I basketball tournament…’cuz that quite frankly is about the only chance Mike Huckabee would have of becoming President. Like George Mason University, managed last year, every now and then a team strings together a few upsets and gets farther than it has any business dreaming. Perhaps if Mike Huckabee caught Hillary Clinton or John McCain on an off day, he might be able to pull off a stunning upset and live to fight another day. How else could an unknown former Arkansas Governor ever hope to become President? It’s never happened before….

Uh, wait….

More than a year before the first primary, it seems rather silly and more than a little presumptuous to engage in anything resembling handicapping. In a campaign which may cost the winning candidate as much as a half BILLION dollars, though, it’s difficult to see how Huckabee’s candidacy can be anything other than (apologies to Thomas Hobbes, who was referring to the lives of cats) nasty, brutish, and short.

It’s too bad, really. Even though Huckabee is a confirmed Conservative and and Evangelical Christian, he does have some interesting ideas. I wouldn’t vote for him on a bet, of course, but I’m all for someone- anyone- who has some reasonable, well-considered ideas to throw into the public discourse. Unfortunately, Huckabee’s nascent campaign will likely be broke and out of business by Labor Day. It’s been said- accurately- that money is the mother’s milk of politics. It’s just too bad there isn’t a teat for Mike Huckabee. He’d at least make things interesting.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 29, 2007 6:00 AM.

Once a mean-spirited, bigoted DUMB@$$.... was the previous entry in this blog.

Nah...he'll be fine as long as he stays away from Dallas is the next entry in this blog.

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