Mike Huckabee keeps on laughing

For the second election in a row, Huckabee leaves the state the night before to appear on late-night TV. This time, it's Letterman.

Published January 8, 2008 1:49PM (EST)

NASHUA, N.H. -- Apparently leaving the state the night before a vote is becoming a new tradition for Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee flew from New Hampshire to New York yesterday to tape an appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman," a few days after showing up on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" the night before he won the Iowa caucuses. Considering the other big campaign on his schedule yesterday was unveiling a burger named for him at a Concord restaurant -- yes, America, meet the Huck-a-burger -- he may not have missed much in the way of opportunities to meet voters.

Last week, of course, I poked fun at Huckabee for running a media-based campaign in an organizing-based state, and he wound up beating Mitt Romney by nine points. The polls don't show a similar Huck-a-surge coming today in New Hampshire, but if it happens, we'll know why. "If I win New Hampshire, it's because I did this show," Huckabee told Letterman. We'll also know why if it doesn't. "If I lose New Hampshire, it's because I did this show."


By Mike Madden

Mike Madden is Salon's Washington correspondent. A complete listing of his articles is here. Follow him on Twitter here.

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2008 Elections Mike Huckabee