For most of the campaign he’s been portrayed as a charming and affable fellow. However, Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister, wasn’t subject to any real scrutiny since his fundraising was anemic and his poll numbers non-existent.

All that has changed now that Huckabee reportedly leads the pack in Iowa and has moved into a close second place in the polls. Huckabee is now under the full weight of a media onslaught that traditionally confronts lead candidates–especially Republican ones. The type of stories and columns being written about him aren’t the typical “let’s learn more about this previous unknown”. They are critical–hyper-critical–which if they were coming just from the media establishment would be a good thing. But Mike Huckabee is under assault from all sides and the consensus is that President Huckabee would be a disaster.

Stuart Rothenburg:

. . . if electability truly is an important issue for the GOP, Huckabee could be a disaster. While some have argued that he could hold conservatives on abortion and civil unions and appeal to swing voters and even Democrats on immigration, spending and domestic priorities, it is more likely that he would lose conservatives on taxes, spending and immigration and alienate moderates and Democrats on social issues.

Eugene Robinson

Is the thought of Mike Huckabee as president just vaguely scary? Or have we learned enough about the man that we should be hair-on-fire alarmed at the prospect, still pretty remote, that he could actually win?

Michael Gerson:

I came to Iowa to see a series of rallies by the surging Mike Huckabee — all of which were canceled by a nine-state ice storm. The candidate chose to occupy his snow day with a moral blunder of the first order — accepting the endorsement of Jim Gilchrist, the founder of an anti-immigrant group called the Minuteman Project.

Steven Stark:

Is Huckabee the New Jimmy Carter?

David Gulliver:

I don’t think I can consider in good conscience Mike Huckabee to actually be a fellow Republican. He is a liberal big government tax and spend fool who shields himself behind a cloak of religious intolerance and bigotry. He may as well be William Jennings Bryan. Or Lyndon Larouche. And, disturbingly, he is rapidly becoming the Republican Party front-runner.

Stephen Bainbridge:

Mike Huckabee may be a “different” kind of Republican. He’s also the wrong kind.

Dan Riehl:

Huckabee is a you’re with me, or against me type of guy. And the only way to be with Huckabee is to be born again. That may be fine for someone in their private affairs. It is unacceptable for a man seeking to lead a nation comprised of so many different faiths. . . Huckabee may be a Christian, but he is far from a tolerant man. And this diverse nation cannot afford such as its President. It simply can’t.

John Hinderaker:

Huckabee’s fuzzy-headed sympathy with serial rapist Wayne Dumond reveals the shallowness of Huckabee’s approach to issues of public policy.

Rick Moran:

. . . a man whose thinking is so shallow a warning sign should be plastered on his forehead reading “Absolutely no diving beyond this point.”

Rich Lowry:

After many false prophecies, Dean circa 2008 has finally arrived. He is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Not because he will inevitably blow himself up in Iowa. But because, like Dean, his nomination would represent an act of suicide by his party.

Michelle Malkin:

A border control cross-dresser.

There are dozens more articles, columns, and posts–all within the last ten days. And almost all of them say the same thing whether the writers are conservative or liberal: Mike Huckabee would be a disaster for America and a catastrophe for the Republican Party.

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