My fellow Ohio Blogger Brain Shavings alerted me to this last evening. I was not aware that Mike Huckabee along with Senator Sam Brownback joined up with Lance Armstrong and his "War on Cancer".

Huckabee committed to sign a nationwide smoking ban in public places, should such a measure win approval in Congress. Brownback said he would let anti-smoking efforts continue under the authority of states and local communities.

I don't and have never smoked, but I think that Brownback has a much better stand on principle here. While Mike Huckabee seems to be an earnest believer in the power of government to fix things. The federal government does not have the freedom to pass any law that is in the public good without violating the tenth amendment.

If individual states want to ban smoking anytime and anywhere, that's probably OK, but the federal government should not do so. Mike Huckabee may call himself a conservative, but making decisions on behalf of people for their own good is not a conservative principle, and doing so at the fed level just doubles the problem.

I still think Huckabee has a good chance of breaking out of the second tier, and especially of overtaking John McCain, but he will need the energy of conservatives to push him there, and this is not the way to get it.

I had only one question after last night's GOP debate: Can Mike Huckabee use it to build on his Iowa success, or will he once again fade into the woodwork? If you remember Huckabee was going nowhere until -- with next to no money -- he pulled off a surprising second place finish in the Iowa straw poll. Here then, are some random thoughts on Huckabee's debate performance last night:

Tigerhawk: "The most eloquent non-candidate up there, I would love to go to his church."

Headingright.com: Huckabee on Iraq: Has oblivious NIE pessimism thrown at him. His answer: "We broke it, we have to fix it." Color me underwhelmed. He must grasp that since he's trying to ride on McCain's coattails.

Stephen Green: I would so hire Mike Huckabee as my accountant. Heck, I might even vote for him for city council. And that's about it.

Ann Althouse: Here's what I think. Get Hunter, Paul, Tancredo, and Brownback out of there. Huckabee, McCain, and Giuliani are serious and have a lot to say. Sit them down at a table and let them talk to each other. With Fred. Gotta bring Fred in too now. Let's go into a new stage of the campaign. It's really wearing to sit through Paul's ravings and Tancredo's fumblings and Hunter's blahness and Brownback's family, family, family. Enough.

US News reports yesterday on Fred Thompson and the religious right.

The success of the effort is by no means ensured; in March, Focus on the Family's James Dobson told U.S. News that he doubted Thompson was really a Christian. But Dobson and Thompson have since talked, with Dobson rumored to be reassessing Thompson. And prominent social conservative Paul Weyrich, who met recently with Thompson and evangelical activists, said the former senator "was in agreement with us on almost everything."

For Thompson, the timing couldn't be better. McCain's campaign is reeling from staff departures and cutbacks, and Giuliani faces fierce opposition from Christian right leaders. So Thompson's team is betting that the GOP primaries will turn into what one adviser calls a "Thompson-Romney duel," since Romney is the one top-tier Republican lobbying hard for evangelical support. "If he gets strong support from evangelicals, Thompson could reshape the race," says the Pew Forum for Religion and Public Life's John Green.

The writing is on the wall for anyone doubting it. Fred Thompson will be the religious right candidate, followed by Mike Huckabee. Huckabee's a nice guy and his positions on just about everything are perfect for the religious right. His background isn't shabby either. What's killing Huckabee is electability. And the Republicans right now are very, very nervous about losing all three branches of government after 2008. Huckabee has not shown that he can play nationally. That's too bad because Huckabee is a good candidate and I hope this isn't the end of his national career. But mark the words, he's not going anywhere this cycle.

Which presidential candidates can break out of the second tier? On the Democratic side, this question is easy: Bill Richardson, who has a great resume, a great platform as a governor, and a good story on electability, being able to contend in the West and Southwest.

But on the Republican side it's a little more muddled. We have Jim Gilmore, Sam Brownback, and Mike Huckabee who all have good platforms and credentials. But I think Huckabee has the best chance. You might call me crazy for thinking that a little known governor from Arkansas has a shot, but ask yourself what Governor Bill Clinton was doing in the spring of 1991

AP has a nice little write-up on Mike Huckabee which highlights the reasons:

Mike Huckabee has a resume fit for a GOP presidential nominee - Southern Baptist preacher, former Arkansas governor, fierce opponent of abortion and gay marriage. Those attributes would seem to be exactly what fellow conservatives are looking for in a candidate. What he doesn't have is money or a household name, and those deficiencies have proven costly to his campaign. He barely registers in polls and is struggling to break out of the pack of Republicans seeking to be seen as credible alternatives to the strongest contenders, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

That's how much Mike Huckabee paid to get his second place result in the Ames, Iowa Straw Poll. USA Today did an analysis:

• Third-place finisher Sam Brownback says he spent about $325,000 to win his 2,192 votes. That's $148.27 for each vote.
• Second-place finisher Mike Huckabee spent about $150,000 and received 2,587 votes. That's $57.98 per vote.
• Winner Mitt Romney has not said how much he spent. The reporting in this Washington Post article suggests at least $2 million and possibly more than twice that much. Assuming $2 million for 4,516 votes, that's $442.87 per vote. But it could top $1,000.

Mitt Romney gets no bump at all out of this. He spent $2 million while nobody else even had that kind of money. This straw poll is a pay-to-play where candidates bus in their own supporters. Romney should have won and he did. He gets no increase in standing, but he doesn't lose either. Net result, no change.

Huckabee wins because, in the political analysis presented in this piece, it's apparent that his votes came from more than just money and political organization. Apparently many of the voters bused in on other candidates transportation switched their vote at the last minute. This is saying something about Huckabee, something good. For his $150k he gets a ton of positive public press and attention that you can't buy at this stage.

Sam Brownback spent too much of his wad on a contest that ultimately means very little except generating a few headlines in the political sargasso season. And he didn't even get that. He's done, even if he doesn't know it.

On Fox News last night, the GOP candidates -- sans Fred Thompson -- went at it again. There were some more fireworks than in previous face-offs and the race is starting to get more heated. Iraq, immigration, abortion and the greater War on Terror were the main topics with immigration and Iraq taking up the most time.

Winners would include John McCain although it's too little, too late and Mike Huckabee. Huckabee had a sparring match with Ron Paul in which Huckabee definitely had the crowd on his side and in my opinion won the match. You can see why Paul attracts some devotees but I have to agree with Glenn Reynolds that his notion that the "neocons" led us to war and not the nation as a whole rings hollow. Paul is essentially rewriting history as he knows full-well that the President went to Congress for approval and went to the UN as well. In fact, the process was extended because of that and that allowed Saddam to set up the insurgency in my opinion. So the idea that a few "neocons" got us into war is ludicrous at best. Huckabee is running a decent campaign being that he came from nowhere.

McCain hit some good points and came across as prepared and on his game, unfortunately he sank during the "shamnesty" bill imbroglio and can never get back to the point he was, especially with Fred Thompson now in the race. A McCain upset in the early primaries is a possibility but not probable. The Arizona Senator had the funniest line of the night when busting on Thompson for missing the debate and doing the Leno show: "Maybe we're up past his bedtime," although McCain is four years older.

Rudy Giuliani didn't make any huge mistakes but he didn't exactly blow anyone away either. He was Mayor of New York, we all know he was Mayor of New York and we all know his record in New York. Start talking about the rest of the country, Rudy.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, anti-war voice of the Republicans, continues to blast his party for its militaristic stances.

The New York Times reported a testy exchange on Iraq between Paul and ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Wednesday's GOP debate.

"The American people didn't go in," Paul said. "A few people advising this administration, a small number of people called the neoconservatives hijacked our foreign policy."

"Congressman, we are one nation," Huckabee replied. "We can't be divided. We have to be one nation, under God. That means, if we make a mistake, we make it as a single country: the United States of America, not the divided states of America."

This isn't the first time Paul has drawn ire from his conservative colleagues. Pat Buchanan listed as "the decisive moment of the (Republicans' May) South Carolina debate" a confrontation between Paul and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

National Review Online has a very interesting article today by S. T. Karnick, making the case for Mike Huckabee, stemming from his position as a governor.

Just consider the following: George W. Bush: Governor of Texas. Bill Clinton: Governor of Arkansas. Ronald Reagan, California; Jimmy Carter, Georgia; Franklin Roosevelt, New York; Calvin Coolidge, Massachusetts; Warren G. Harding (Lt. Governor of Ohio before serving as a U.S. Senator but missing over two thirds of the roll-call votes during his tenure and hence leaving little paper trail); Woodrow Wilson (New Jersey); William Howard Taft (governor-general of the Philippines); Theodore Roosevelt (New York). Governors win, and when it's a governor running against a U.S. senator or even vice president or president, the governor wins.

Senators who become president are those who run against other senators or ascend to the presidency after serving as vice president when a sitting president dies in office. The last senator to win the presidency without being the incumbent was John F. Kennedy in 1960, and it's almost a certainty that the close race against Richard Nixon - a former senator and vice president, not a governor - was stolen by pols in Illinois and Texas.

So, when we think about whom any party should nominate for president, it's always best to go after a governor.

And then goes on to say that Mike Huckabee is no worse off than Bill Clinton in the latter half of 1991 as far as name recognition goes.

And that's all true, but I would make the case that while the argument for Huckabee is compelling, that being the mayor of New York is more than equal to the task of a governor. By my count there are only ten states that have a higher population than New York City, and Arkansas is not one of them. By this measure of executive experience,Rudy Giuliani wins. Mitt Romney was also a governor as noted in the article, which quickly goes on to say that Romney isn't the guy for 2008.

Huckabee does have the right background, but he's going to need more than just the governor line on his resume.

Mike Huckabee has been getting good coverage lately. Good enough that I've been wondering why it is that Fred Thompson is getting all the media attention and zoomed to the top of the polls while Huckabee has stayed in the second tier. Governors make better presidential candidates than senators, and Huckabee should be doing better with religious conservatives.

But Thompson is getting all the glory. And this Washington Post article crystallized it for me. Listen to what Fred is saying:

But he says he thinks the public is looking for a different kind of leadership. "I think a president could go to the American people and say, 'Here's what we need to be doing. And I'm willing to go halfway. Now you have to make them [the opposition] go halfway.' "

The approach Thompson says he's contemplating is one that will step on many sensitive political toes. When he says "we're getting a free ride" fighting a necessary war in Iraq with an undersized military establishment, "wearing out our people and equipment," it sounds like a criticism of the president and the Pentagon.

When he says he would have opposed adding the prescription drug benefit to Medicare, "a $17 trillion add-on to a program that's going bankrupt," he is fighting the bipartisan judgment of the last Congress.

Or as we say in English: "Enjoy your meal." Well for Republican candidate Mike Huckabee it means: "Quit Digging your Grave with a Knife and Fork." This is the title of the book he wrote after he recovered from a food addiction and lost 110 pounds. Huckabee spoke to southern governors on Saturday about his concerns about obesity in this country. According to him, an obesity epidemic could cause serious concerns for the American economy and for national security.

700 000 Americans will die in a year because of unhealthy habits which also include smoking. Huckabee went so far that he has compared it with disasters like hurricane Katrina and 9/11, since the fatality rate is as high. Each day 2,000 Americans die to do poor health choices. 90% of all diabetes cases are considered Type 2, which is linked to obesity or lack of physical activity. The health care costs of a person with diabetes is five times higher then health care cost of a person without it. For more on these numbers see this link. The military is also affected by obesity. The percentage of overweight possible recruits rose from 27 percent to 32 percent from 1996 to 2005. However in order to get more recruits the army allows people to enlist if they reduce to weight standards within a year in their age group. Officials in the military are concerned about this problem for quite some time.

Amazing. During last night's Republican debate, three candidates signaled that they did not believe in the theory of evolution. Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, and Sam Brownback. John McCain himself, who was initially asked the question, seemed almost hestitant to endorse what is perhaps the most robust scientific theory of our age. You might as well say you don't believe that planes can fly. Watch.

Of course, evolution itself is not incompatible with a belief in God, as some would have you think. But it certainly doesn't square with a literalist interpretation of the Bible. One wonders how each candidate would respond in full to this question, and whether it's the last we'll hear of it.

This was the funniest moment of last night's debate. Signaling His displeasure with the permissive, liberal turn of the Republican party, God himself threw lightning bolts down upon the proceedings. In specific, God took pains to short out Rudy Giuliani's microphone so that America's Mayor couldn't get out his heretical position on abortion. How else can we explain the utter lack of interference with pseudo-creationist Mike Huckabee's remarks on whether or not the earth was created in six days? See for yourself.

ABSENT: Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mitt Romney

PRESENT: Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo, Alan Keyes

What were they thinking? They say a picture is worth a thousand words and the four empty chairs on the podium of the Republicans' recent debate on Thursday, September 27th at Morgan State University spoke volumes. Regardless of the spin or the rationale (reported "scheduling conflicts" for each of them), those candidates obviously did not think it was worth their while to show up and there is no way to interpret that except that they didn't think it was important to reach out to these blocs of voters -- which is interesting, since the over 60, white male, southern voter is probably going to vote for one of them anyway and is a shrinking population. I'm not sure a candidate can win the national election anymore with over 60, while male, southern voters.

Mike Huckabee said he was "embarrassed for our party and I'm embarrassed for those who didn't come."

Sam Brownback said, "I think this is a disgrace that they are not here...a disgrace to our country...bad for our party...I don't think it's good for our future."

The general consensus is that after the primary, whoever the Republicans select will start moving towards the center and reaching out to these other voters. Good luck with that strategy. There are a lot of us around who will remind people of who was important, or not, to the candidate in September 2007.

Mitt Romney romped in the Iowa Straw Poll, though it doesn't mean much since Rudy Giuliani and John McCain didn't participate:

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, got 31.6 percent of the more than 14,000 ballots cast, compared with 18.1 percent for second-place finisher Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas; 15.3 percent for Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback; 13.7 percent for Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo; and 9.1 percent for Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who rounded out the top five in the 11-man field.

This means nothing for Romney as he expected to win. For Mike Huckabee, it gives him a much-needed boost but essentially means he'll be around until the Iowa caucuses and then drop out.

The big losers were Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, who failed to get any real traction during the immigration bill debacle and Rep. Ron Paul. Paul, in particular, needed a good showing to give clout to his alleged groundswell. That groundswell didn't materialize and if Paul can't win -- or even make the top three -- in a watered-down field, he has no business being in the race other than to act as spoiler -- which may be the plan.

The Iowa Straw Poll was once considered to be of great import but that time is passed. The candidates made a showing of busing people in and treating them all nicely in exchange for a vote that means nothing. I suspect that we'll see Brownback, Tancredo, Tommy Thompson and Duncan Hunter pack it in as they had dismal showings and their campaigns have not lit any sparks anywhere (in Hunters case, that's a shame). Paul will keep going as he has, in his words, "large Internet support," but real voting is not the same as spamming a blog's poll and hitting the Ron Paul button fifty times in three minutes.

People will remember only two things from last evenings GOP debate in South Carolina: Governor Huckabee's reference to Congress spending more money than John Edwards in a beauty shop. And a well deserved, and played, slap down of Ron Paul delivered by Rudy Giuliani.

In fact, here it is on YouTube already.