Who Runs Gov

A fun nugget from Ben Smith’s interview with Mike Huckabee hints at some serious resentment smoldering between him and Sarah Palin, the two leading conservative standard bearers heading into the 2012 GOP primary:

“Some of the people who had excoriated me and really been very dismissive of me for views that I had taken, and labeled me anything from a populist to an ignoramus — the same people have been very defensive [of] and laudatory to Sarah Palin,” Huckabee noted, adding that he’d invited her to appear on his weekly Fox show but “could never get any contact.”

“I’m glad she’s getting the props — I know I’m not nearly as attractive,” he said with a guileless grin.

Huckabee seems to be smarting over Palin’s refusal to answer his invitation to appear on his show, and while that could reflect her displeasure with someone daring to cut in on her base, it’s more likely a reflection of Palin’s staff being a disaster.

Huckabee, meanwhile, is pretty open about his disdain for, and resentment of, Palin’s successful appeal to conservatives, which he dismisses as superficial and rooted in her looks.

Huckabee and Palin may be natural competitors for the GOP base. A recent Gallup poll found that while Palin is hugely popular among Republicans with a 72% approval rating, Huckabee is the runner-up among 2012 hopefuls, with a 59% approval among the same voters.

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Pretty interesting development: Despite the controversy over Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell’s master’s thesis pillorying women’s and gay rights (or perhaps partly because of it?) the 2012 GOP presidential hopefuls are falling all over themselves to be seen campaigning at his side.

The McDonnell thesis, which described working women as “detrimental” to the family and said government should favor married couples over “cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators,” elevated McDonnell’s national profile and was widely criticized as far to the right of the mainstream.

These days the top GOP wannabees for 2012 love being seen with the man:

* Bobby Jindal is headlinging a fundraiser tonight that’s expected to raise $250,000 for McDonnell.

* Newt Gingrich hosted a campaign breakfast with him this morning.

* Mitt Romney hosted a fundraiser that netted $100,000 for McDonnell last week.

* Tim Pawlenty stumped for McDonnell in Virginia earlier this month.

To be sure, it’s not terribly surprising that the 2012 hopefuls are building chits by lending a hand in such a high-profile race. But it’s not without risk: It’s provided the DNC with an opening to paint Republicans as anti-women at a moment when the national GOP is trying to shed its image as backward-looking and hostage to intolerants.

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Update: Sure enough, DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan emails:

“They are falling all over themselves to appeal to 20% of the electorate by embracing arguments so extreme that they turn off the other 80%.”

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