Is Mike Huckabee gearing up to send Newt Gingrich a cease and desist letter? The former Speaker used Huckabee’s likeness in a new ad, in which the latter, then running against Mitt Romney, attacked the former governor. Huckabee explained to the crew of Fox & Friends this morning that the material was from an ad that he didn’t, in good conscience, air, and that while he had not explicitly told Gingrich to knock it off, he had clearly called the ad “unauthorized, disapproved use of something that was copyrighted material.”

Mitt Romney spoke with Fox News’ Mike Huckabee about Newt Gingrich‘s tactic of trying to position himself as the candidate who is “challenging the establishment.”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney‘s presidential campaign has released a new web ad that features radio clips of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee defending Romney against the recent barrage of attacks on Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital. Ironically, Huckabee was also featured in an anti-Romney SuperPAC ad last month that reminded voters of Romney’s propensity to go negative early, like he did against Huckabee in 2008.

With the 2012 primary elections in full swing, this week brought with it some unfinished business from 2008, as Mike Huckabee opened up a can of worms by suggesting that Sen. John McCain encouraged Fred Thompson to stay in the Republican primary to dilute the Huckabee vote. Sen. McCain denied it, while Thompson essentially called Huckabee a liar, and on Fox & Friends this morning, Huckabee noted that he meant no offense, and was a bit confused as why he had to “apologize for thinking they were smart.”

He kinda did, yeah. On Friday morning’s Fox and Friends, the gang confronted former Sen. Fred Thompson with video of Mike Huckabee‘s accusation that Thompson had remained in the 2008 primary race in South Carolina at Sen. John McCain‘s urging, to take votes away from Huckabee. Thompson denied the accusation, and went a step further, saying he “doubted” Huckabee’s assertion that several McCain aides confirmed the story to him.

A new Rasmussen report of likely voters has Congress’ approval rating (people believing they are doing an “excellent” or “good” job) at an unimaginably low 5%, with 68% of those responding thinking that Congress is doing a “poor” job. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee went on Fox and Friends Monday morning, and noted that it places Congress, “just barely above a pedophile.”

Former Iowa Caucuses-winner Mike Huckabee apparently wants to spend his post-Christmas days deleting hate mail from his inbox. In an interview with Fox News Sunday‘s Chris Wallace, Huckabee delivered a fairly blistering assessment of Iowa frontrunner Rep. Ron Paul and his “fanatical believers.”

With the Iowa caucuses somehow less than a month away and Rep. Ron Paul inching closer to frontrunner Newt Gingrich in the polls, the question of whether Gingrich will make it into first place and, if he doesn’t, whether it will matter has come to the fore. On Fox & Friends this morning, 2008 Iowa Republican caucus winner Mike Huckabee weighed in on the importance of coming in first there, and on his suspicion that Gingrich may not survive the current “political colonoscopy” his campaign is undergoing.

Wednesday night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow discussed what has turned out to be dominant narrative of the day: Ron Paul‘s success in Iowa and what it means… or doesn’t mean.

Mike Huckabee hasn’t been one to shirk away from criticizing Herman Cain when proper, but this morning on Fox & Friends, he took the opportunity to defending Cain from a week of white-hot scrutiny after Politico uncovered decades-old sexual harassment accusations. In presidential campaigns, Huckabee lamented, “you spend 80% of the time defending yourself against these extraneous nonsense things,” and “you almost have to invent someone out of thin air” to avoid the opposition research attacks.

Forbes’ top-earning country star, Toby Keith, paid a visit to Mike Huckabee‘s Fox News program over the weekend.

Huckabee got right down to business, asking Keith whether his popular country songs contains political messages. The host noted that the singer doesn’t appear to be overtly political, but then immediately segued way to “let’s play a clip from the Taliban song,” a juxtaposition that drew laughter from the audience.

Mike Huckabee isn’t especially impressed by Rick Perry‘s threat that he may drop out of some debates lest he make any more gaffes. Not because he doesn’t understand the rigor of a presidential campaign– he has certainly been there– but because he has admitted that his campaign slowdown is an attempt to keep his image pristine. What does it say about a candidate, Huckabee asked on Fox & Friends this morning, that they admit to being unable to stop gaffing?

With his rise to the top tier of the Republican 2012 race, Herman Cain has seen the scrutiny of his policy positions increase dramatically, and it is his stance on (illegal?) abortion that stole the limelight and confounded voters this week. On Fox & Friends this morning, Mike Huckabee‘s weekly take turned to Cain, and he found the candidate’s stance to be “very pro-choice” despite the backtracking– possibly too pro-choice for the people of Iowa.

Maybe there’s something in the water now, or there was in 2008, but there seems to be a case of retroactive Romney Fever among conservatives who now think the former Massachusetts governor is the bastard offspring of Phil Donahue and Howard Zinn. The latest victim is conservative megastar Rush Limbaugh, who emphatically declared on Wednesday that “Mitt Romney is not a conservative,” but who, in 2008, said he embodied “all three legs of the conservative stool.”

Now that it appears the media is finally over the hill on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie 2012 speculation, the focus on the governor has shifted to what would happen if he actually ran, and naturally the “is Chris Christie too fat?” question emerges front and center. On last night’s Last Word, Lawrence O’Donnell asked his panel– campaign strategist Ed Rollins and columnist Jonathan Alter– what the odds were of Christie making a presidential bid with his figure intact. The consensus? Expect a diet if a campaign was on the horizon.

Well, someone has to address the elephant in the room. I know what you’re all thinking. It’s clear. Obviously, everyone knows the big problem with the GOP’s 2012 contender selection: There aren’t enough candidates! Fortunately, Mike Huckabee may have heard the call as sources have said that he is considering rejoining the race.

The big question here, of course, is whether this means there will be no more Ted Nugent duets or a lot more Ted Nugent duets?

Texas governor Rick Perry‘s performance at Thursday night’s Fox News/Google debate have many conservatives second-guessing their initial enthusiasm for the candidate– particularly his stances on immigration. It was not his ideas, but his delivery that concerned Mike Huckabee this morning on his regular Fox & Friends appearance, arguing that his apparent exhaustion proved Perry “is not prepared for the pressure of the presidential stage.”

Mike Huckabee‘s faith made up a significant part of his political identity during his 2008 Republican Presidential bid, and as such Huckabee came out this morning to defend the open airing of faith by other Republican candidates this time around. Speaking to the Fox & Friends crew this morning, Huckabee said he appreciated Texas Gov. Rick Perry‘s openness with his faith, but didn’t see it as a way of “other”-ing the Mormon candidates in the field, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman.

Rick Perry continues to poll well, and a CNN/ORC International Poll released ahead of tonight’s debate shows the Texas statesmen leading in both theoretical votes and general electability, earning the all important “nice guy” vote.

Mike Huckabee‘s weekly round at Fox & Friends this morning was far more somber than usual, as the topic of discussion naturally gravitated towards the September 11th attacks and the ceremony planned for tomorrow. Huckabee took offense at the secular nature of the ceremony, arguing that it was not “the politicians [who] were the heroes of 9/11,” but the clergy, and that anyone who would protest Muslim clerics at such a ceremony would be “inappropriate” and “ridiculous.”

With her speaking engagement this weekend Sarah Palin has once again managed to bring the 2012 presidential spotlight on herself without jumping into the race, though polls are now showing her chances are rather compromised. Even if she does not run or win, however, at least Mike Huckabee thinks there’s a significant place for her at the table. On Fox & Friends this morning, the 2008 GOP candidate argued that, given her poll numbers, it may be Palin’s fate to “season the food,” but not be the “main ingredient.”

Mike Huckabee may not be running for President this time around, but he was up bright and early in Iowa this morning for his appearance at the Ames Straw Poll today. Chatting with the cast of Fox & Friends, Huckabee weighed in on the other Republican event of the day: the RedState gather, where Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to announce his candidacy. “That’s a tactical mistake,” Huckabee argued, as Perry is now turning the entire state of Iowa against him.

Donald Trump wants to be clear: he is obviously “no fan” of President Obama, and “what’s happening in this country is terrible.” That said, he seems to hold the Credit Ratings companies in lower regard than the White House, particularly in light the recent credit downgrade made by the S&P. “These are arrogant guys,” Trump told the hosts of Fox and Friends, adding “they had no reason to do what they did.”

How’s this for thinking outside the box? Mike Huckabee visited the cast of Fox & Friends this morning to talk about the disastrous economic downturn the nation took yesterday as its credit rating sank, and had a suggestion or two for replacing one of those upon whose shoulders lay the most blame: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Paramount among those? Donald Trump, who he suggested should be given 90 days to turn the economy around.

Mike Huckabee made a midweek stop on the O’Reilly Factor tonight prompted by the controversy surrounding his new children’s education cartoons. One cartoon in particular that explains the events of September 11, 2001 has received significant criticism, both from those who believe the cartoons are biased in favor of the Bush administration and those that worry Huckabee is making money off the terror attacks. Today, Huckabee addressed the latter, saying criticizing him in such a way would be like condemning Michael Moore or Steven Spielberg for their work.