Huckabee From Out of Nowhere

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has catapulted to the front of the Republican field in the state of Iowa, effectively turning the contest into a two-person race. As the Washington Post reports, Huckabee has tripled his support in Iowa since July, and now trails only Mitt Romney by a margin-of-error thin margin. Specifically, Huckabee, an ordained minister who does not believe in evolution, is drawing his support from the conservative wing of the party:

He saw a 28-percentage-point jump in support from evangelical Protestants, to 44 percent, and a 19-point rise among conservatives, to 30 percent.

Of course, one reason for Huckabee's jump in conservative support is the fact that Sam Brownback dropped out of the race, thereby leaving staunch evangelicals with one clear candidate, instead of two.

While much of Mitt Romney's campaign has been spent trying to convince voters that he is the real conservative in the pack, a direct comparison of conservative credentials (especially of the social variety) is not necessarily one that Romney wants to partake in with Huckabee. The latter exudes sincerity on the conservative question. Romney, on the other hand, has to continually make his case.

...almost half of Huckabee's supporters (48 percent) said they would definitely vote for him in January and only a quarter said there was a good chance that they would change their minds before the caucuses. In contrast, just 29 percent of Romney's backers said they would definitely vote for him, while 42 percent said there was a good chance that they could vote for someone else at the caucuses.

And in the ever-important world of celebrity endorsements (how is that for a gratuitous segue?) Romney has fellow Mormons Donnie and "Dancin' With the Stars" Marie in his corner, while Huckabee enjoys the got-your-backing from Chuck Norris and former professional wrestler Ric Flair.

If I were Romney, I'd be more than a little worried at Huckabee's rise.