Is Mike Huckabee Campaigning against Sarah Palin?

The 2010 lame duck Congress is over and history will decide how far that group of represenatives will swing the needle to the revolting side of the scale. Now, though, attention turns to the 2012 election and a rejuvenated President Obama wonders which of a slew of Republican presidential wannabes he will run against, in a couple of years.

A recent Clarus Research Group poll presented to Republican voters listed almost every possible Republican who might run for president, in 2012, except perhaps the Kitchen Sink. The popularity poll revealed that Mitt Romney with 19 percent, Mike Huckabee with 18 percent and Sarah Palin with 17 percent led the pack. Newt Gingrich at 10 percent was the next closest. However, even though it’s early, only five percent of those polled said they had no opinion, which means Republican voters seem to have picked their favorites early. With Huckabee and Palin neck to neck, a recent comment by Huckabee, concerning Palin, caused me to wonder if Huckabee took a campaign-style swing at Palin.

The story begins with Michelle Obama’s mission to make the United States aware of the problem of child obesity, and her concern that children consume too many sweets. The First Lady wants pop and candy machines out of schools, and a recent bill President Obama signed gives the USDA the power to regulate the amount of sweets schools have available for children. In response to this, Palin, while looking for the necessities to make smores on her program “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” said.

“Where are the smores ingredients? This in honor of Michelle Obama, who said the other day we should not have dessert.”

Huckabee wasted no time responding to her remark. On the “Curtis Sliwa Show,” he said, “With all due respect to my colleague and friend Sarah Palin, I think she’s misunderstood what Michelle Obama is trying to do. Michelle Obama’s not trying to tell people what to eat or not trying to force the government’s desires on people. She’s stating the obvious, that we do have an obesity problem in this country.”

Huckabee’s remarks raise questions. First, was his response motivated by his own health scare in 2003? At that time he was overweight and after the scare went on a diet losing 100 pounds. Since then he has become an advocate of healthy eating and exercise. Or, is it possible the remarks were an early campaign punch thrown at Palin?

I believe Huckabee’s remarks had some political motivation aimed at 2012. His remarks appear to have the end result of putting Palin on the defensive. Reversing the obesity trend in the United States is an issue with many people, and the First Lady is a popular figure in the country. Thus, Huckabee’s remarks may be to put Palin on the wrong side of a popular issue, and a popular First Lady. How Palin responds will be interesting.

Michael O’Brien: Romney, Huckabee, Palin lead GOP field for 2012 Nomination: thehill.com

Jennifer Epstein: Huckabee: Sarah Palin’s Wrong, Michelle Obama’s Right: politico.com