Conservative Donnybrook

As Mike Huckabee cruises into a third-place showing in Michigan, here’s your dose of the latest in Huckster news and commentary.

As you have no doubt heard, Jim Pinkerton of Newsday and formerly of the Reagan and Bush I administrations has come on board the Huckabee campaign.

What, you haven’t heard? Anyway, Pinkerton’s been beating the drum for Huckabee since he was a largely-ignored second-tier candidate. Pinkerton’s a paleocon who opposed the Iraq War and has published articles in The American Conservative (see this, this, and especially this). He also is a vocal immigration restrictionist and his influence on the Huck campaign is already bearing fruit.

Larison is remains perplexed at support Huck garners from the likes of the paleo Pinkerton and traditionalists like Rod Dreher, his objection being that Huck is basically the campaign’s leading invade-the-world-invite-the-world Gersonist. But it seems to me that Larison’s getting it a little backwards here; the real significance here is not the contradictions between Huck’s stands and Pinkertonesque goals, but the influence Pinkerton will have on the campaign moving forward.

Anyway, it could all be moot as lately Huck’s campaign seems to be deflating a bit.

UPDATE: However, it occurs to me that Huck’s attempt to position himself to the right of his opponents on immigration obscures the nice-guy “conservative who isn’t mad at anyone” image he cultivates. Speaking from a purely strategic point of view, it seems tough for someone with Huck’s cultural roots to talk tough on immigration without seeming xenophobic.