What NIE?

Just in case you've missed this: two days ago, Huckabee was asked about the NIE yesterday and he indicated that he didn't know a new one had been released. His statement was met with incredulity -- don't candidates have, you know, staff, for things like that?

In many ways, though, Huckabee barely has a campaign. He hasn't needed one. His rise in the polls has been generated largely by the image that he projects as speaker and as as conservative Christian.

In campaign terms, where Mitt Romney has a juggernaut, Huckabee has a cult of personality, with everything orbiting around the sun. He has little time for policy -- indeed, aside from the Fair Tax, I had to Google "Huckabee" and "policy" to remind myself what he's proposed to do.

One conservative likens Huckabee to Jimmy Carter, possessed with enormous self-confidence about his ability to learn the stuff of foreign policy....but.. Incidentally, conservative bloggers have been savaging Huckabee for this lapse.

With low turnout projected for the Iowa caucuses, though, a candidate needs more than a face. He needs bodies on the ground, rapid response (and in that, his new hire, Joe Carter, performs just fine), policy surrogates (none yet), thousands of identified supporters (he's building the list), money to keep pace on television (Huckabee is buying time at less than half Romney's rate in Iowa)