The Other Man From Hope

Another thing that could cause Huckabee trouble: lingering ethics accusations from his time in the governor's mansion. The state ethics commission formally admonished him five times for, among other things, unreported gifts and failing to properly disclose $43,000 in funds he received from his campaign. He was slammed in the Arkansas press for taking money for out-of- state speeches and accepting lavish gifts from supporters, including $20,000 worth of clothing from a friend in Little Rock. Huckabee is uncharacteristically prickly when asked about it. "The only thing I regret is disclosing more than I needed to," he says. End of subject.

Most of the time, Huckabee is a master at maintaining a placid exterior, even when he's delving into issues that are new to him as a politician. On matters of war and foreign policy, he recites the safe, standard Republican mantra of supporting the troops and defeating terrorists, and is critical of how the war has been conducted. He knows he'll need to do better if he hopes to make it as the nominee, or even as a plausible veep. For now, he defaults to the standard governor's response to criticism that a lack of experience could derail his campaign. If international expertise were a requirement for the Oval Office, he says, "Ronald Reagan wouldn't have been elected. Bill Clinton wouldn't have, either." Huckabee, ever politic, left another recent Republican governor, elected with limited foreign-policy credentials, off the list.

© 2007