The Pilot vs. The Preacher

What happened next may offer a clue either to Huckabee's naivet?—or his guile. Huckabee played the ad to a room full of reporters, who could not contain their derisive laughter. Huckabee thereby ensured that the ad would be rebroadcast over and over on the news programs and on YouTube, allowing Huckabee to cut down his opponent on the airwaves without spending a dime to buy air time. Huckabee insisted that "cynical" reporters wouldn't believe his act of conscience unless they were shown the offending ad, but his remarks struck some reporters as wildly disingenuous.

Huckabee was in a playful mood as he headed for a state where his born-again background will not help much. In Iowa, 60 percent of the Republicans who turned out were evangelicals. New Hampshire is very secular. "We're going to have to convert a lot more people in New Hampshire in the next five days," Huckabee joked. "We're going to have a big tent revival out on the grounds of the Concord state capitol, get them all converted to the evangelical faith, then we'll win." McCain also clowned around. Why were voters taking a second look at him? "Because of my eloquence, charisma, good looks and talent," he quipped. A reporter asked, what happens if he doesn't win? "Suicide," he deadpanned. "I might have to go back to the United States Senate."

Both Huckabee and McCain have a bit of the prankster in their makeup. McCain was a wild man in school (he graduated near the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy), which he freely acknowledges. Huckabee smiles playfully when he describes living in a triple-wide trailer on the grounds of the Arkansas Governor's Mansion while it was being restored. Living in a trailer was cheaper than renting a house, he says, and his constituents could joke, "I almost rear-ended the Governor's Mansion on the highway." Stunts to amuse and attract voters are to be expected of both men. The question is whether they will stoop to darker tricks when the going gets rough, as it surely will. Romney and Rudy Giuliani have huge war chests. Whoever survives the contests of January will have to engage Giuliani in Florida on Jan. 29 and on Superduper Tuesday, Feb. 5. Giuliani is gambling by waiting that long to truly enter the fray. But when he does, he will almost surely not hesitate to use attack ads. By then, the lovefest between McCain and Huckabee could be long over.

CORRECTION: In "THE PILOT VS. THE PREACHER" (POLITICS, Jan. 14), we said that former McCain political consultant Mike Murphy had once been a Navy pilot.  He has never been a Navy pilot and he never served in the armed forces.  NEWSWEEK regrets the error.

With Suzanne Smalley and Sarah Elkins with McCain and Steve Tuttle in Washington

© 2008