The Huckabee boomlet?

TNR's Noam Scheiber, reporting from the Ames straw poll, says that Mike Huckabee was prolly the real winner of the thing. Excerpt:

Whatever the case, it's hard to overstate the significance of Huckabee's performance here. Combined, Huckabee and Brownback--the field's two leading social conservatives--outpolled Mitt Romney today 33 to 31.5. If, as the results suggest, Huckabee emerges as the lone standard bearer for this group, he'll probably end up with a block of support to rival Romney's. (Most "Brownbackers" I spoke to would feel extremely comfortable throwing their support behind the Arkansan.) But, of course, just combining Brownback's and Huckabee's numbers actually way understates Huckabee's potential ceiling. For one thing, he's come this far running on fumes. It will be interesting to see what he can do with the fundraising boost he'll enjoy after today. On top of that, there seem to be a lot of social conservatives currently supporting Romney because he's running as the most conservative of the top-tier candidates. Now that Huckabee has demonstrated his viability, it's not hard to imagine him peeling off a decent number of Romney's conservative backers.

A final thought: The political press is absolutely head over heels for Huckabee. (There were high-fives all around when it became clear he'd finish second.) He's a genuinely endearing guy who can banter with the best of them--watching him with reporters brings to mind the old black and white footage of Babe Ruth jawboning with sportswriters. When you add that to the political media's general affinity for underdogs, you can see how Huckabee's about to enjoy some serious media afterglow, which will only further boost his profile.

Boy, I hope so. I don't like Huckabee's stance on the war, but he's by far the most enjoyable of the candidates to listen to. I'd love to see him get more into the GOP race.

Maybe it's just me, but of all the candidates of either party, the only ones who indicate that they'd be fun just to sit around and drink beer and eat ribs with are Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee. Whatever you think of their politics, they both come across as real people with senses of humor. In fact, the NYT writes an entire story today about Huckabee's humorous appeal. Excerpt:

“Campaigns shouldn’t always be painful,” Mr. Huckabee said when asked about his approach in an interview here. “Politics shouldn’t be like a root canal.”

Mr. Huckabee said he came from a family with a very funny father. “My mother, not so much,” he said.

“If you can do it naturally and also make your point with humor, people will remember it,” he said. “I have heard people come up and speak to me, saying they met me 15 years ago — I don’t even remember being in their homes — but they remember some story or joke and the point I had made.”
[snip]
The humor seems an integral part of an easy-going, self-effacing, jaunty personality, though one that is no doubt calculated to some degree. That is one reason Republicans have watched him as a potential dark horse.

“One of the things I think I’ve brought to the process is unapologetically I’m a conservative — but I’m not mad at anybody over it,” he told a voter in Iowa.

OTOH, JPod lifts his head from the pages of Christian Hunter & Angler long enough to weigh in on the non-significance of Ames:

I hate to be nasty, but anybody who takes the Ames Straw Poll results seriously is an idiot.