Huckabee Apologizes For Mormon Remark, Romney Makes Nice

All is apparently forgiven between Republican frontrunners Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.

The former Arkansas governor told CNN that he apologized to the former Massachusetts governor for his quixotically intentioned remark to the New York Times Magazine. Huckabee asked a Times reporter, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

After the Iowa debate today, Huckabee told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, "I went to Mitt Romney and apologized to him, because I said, I would never try, ever, to try to somehow pick out some point of your faith and make it, you know, an issue, and I wouldn't. I've stayed away from talking about Mitt Romney's faith. And I told him face to face, I said, 'I don't think your being a Mormon ought to make you more or less qualified for being a president.' That has been my position."

Now, well, it's water under the bridge. Romney took Huckabee at his word. As his spokesman, Kevin Madden, told the Huffington Post:

"The governor accepted the apology. He continues to believe that this campaign should not be about questioning a candidate's faith. While it is fair to criticize an opponent's record or policy positions, it is out of bounds for one candidate to question another's personal faith."

Earlier in the day, the tone coming from the Romney campaign was not so conciliatory. Appearing on NBC this morning, the candidate himself declared that, "attacking someone's religion is really going too far." Adding, "It's just not the American way, and I think people will reject that."

We'll see if we've heard the last of religion as a campaign issue. If Lawrence O'Donnell has his say... this would be just the beginning.