HUCKABEE: HIS FAME IS AT 14:59 AND COUNTING

Yeah, he did OK in the Ames straw poll, but no, he's not going to be on the ticket -- period. Check out this exchange between National Review Online's Kathryn Jean Lopez and the Club for Growth's Pat Toomey:

LOPEZ: You’ve hit Mike Huckabee hard. Is there a point to that? One assumes he won’t be the nominee?

TOOMEY: There is no question that Mike Huckabee is a charismatic politician, but Governor Huckabee is attempting to use his charisma to hoodwink American voters and the media with respect to his economic record. While there is little chance of Governor Huckabee catapulting into the coveted first tier, he is being discussed as a viable vice-presidential pick, especially if the eventual nominee needs a social conservative to shore up the conservative base. The Club for Growth’s original observations about Huckabee’s tax-and-spend record have been born out in recent weeks as Huckabee embraced a new brand of lefty populism and class warfare rhetoric that one often hears from Democrats. It is important for the Club for Growth to continue to push to clarify the true nature Mike Huckabee’s economic record and policies.

"Embrac[ing] a new brand of lefty populism and class warfare rhetoric" -- it's not exactly like being "eager to raise a socialist flag atop the White House" (which is what Toomey says about all the leading Democrats), but it's pretty harsh.

Oh, and watch this Club for Growth ad.

In theory, Rudy, Mitt, or Fred might consider blowing off the zealots -- but the Gospel According to Rove says that Bush lost the popular vote in '00 because the base wasn't sufficiently motivated and won in '04 because it was. As it is, these guys are all pretending to be more right-wing than they've ever been in the past -- why would they squander all that with a VP choice?

So forget it -- Huckabee's toast.