Jonah, your correspondent is clearly well-intentioned, and I’ll take it on trust that Huckabee does indeed have a “brilliant” mind, despite his holding one or two beliefs that suggest that a more nuanced adjective (or adjectives) might be a better choice. What I do think is that Huckabee is, like many preachers, and, for that matter, like many politicians (and he’s both), brilliantly manipulative (which is a less polite way of saying what your correspondent says when he notes how well Huckabee knows his audience). As such, the idea that he can be “handled” is unconvincing. What Huckabee will do, I’m sure, is take advice. He wants to win, but why help him do so? One of the ironies of this situation, however, is (as I’m not the first to observe) that the more we pile on, the more we bolster his anti-establishment credentials. Interesting times.