Of course, the title of this post belies the content.  This is not a post about how Huckabee is going to bring back Old Tyme Religion.  I’m not sure I want it back.  No, this is not a post about Huckabee the Preacher.  It’s a post about Huckabee the Candidate.

Huckabee just overtook Mitt “Mormon and Loving It” Romney in the Iowa polls, and the Times is taking notice with a deluge of coverage.  This long profile is due out in the Sunday magazine, but we’ve got it for you here today.

Huckabee may lose the race, but he has already scrambled it. The Republican presidential contest was expected to focus on foreign policy, national security and executive competence. Huckabee has moved it to issues of character, religion and personality. Regardless of what happens, he is now a real player in the Republican Party, a man to be taken seriously.

This is another nice paragraph, about Huckabee’s inexperience in Washington:

In his defense, Huckabee mentioned that as governor, he had visited ‘‘35 or 40 countries,” where he sometimes negotiated trade deals. ‘‘In some ways, this kind of experience is more significant than that of senators who sit on some committee,” he said gamely. He also noted that George W. Bush came to office as a Southern governor without foreign-policy experience.

A nice, get-to-know you piece about the candidate.  I’m not comfortable with his ideas about government spending, but there’s time to get more information on that.