1.0 link 77412 <![CDATA[Republicans Stunned by Penniless Wisecracking Two-bit Preacher]]> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-jenkins/republicans-stunned-by-pe_b_77412.html Mike Huckabee's not-so-improbable rise has stunned the Republican establishment and has his rivals exhibiting completely aberrant behavior: Mitt Romney is teary-eyed, Rudy Giuliani subdued, and Fred Thompson snarky.

It is highly satisfying that the cause of this vexation is a Southern Christian conservative of the kind that the party has counted on for votes for decades. Republican leaders just didn't want one to actually run for president, and certainly not to win. George W. Bush was perfect for...

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