As with Jeb, I’m surprised that Huckabee seems to be serious about running. If he does throw his hat in the ring, he will begin with an enormous reservoir of good will among grassroots conservatives who have enjoyed him on Fox over the years. And he will surely be an entertaining campaigner. The problems he will have are fundraising, for which he has shown little aptitude or relish; substance, since he is far from a policy wonk; and a certain sense of representing the past rather than the future, given that he hasn’t held office since 2007 and had his “moment” in presidential politics six years ago.
We’ll see if the Republican field lines up as you would conventionally expect it to, with Jeb dominating the establishment slot. If it does, the early handicapping has to be that every candidate who gets in on the right, fracturing that part of the field, marginally helps the former Florida governor.