Mike Huckabee's other half- not as nice as he is?

With former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee’s miraculous ascendancy to one of the top Republican presidential contenders, he’s worth watching (click to enlarge).
Yesterday, Frank Rich, The New York Times op ed columnist, wrote "The Republicans Find Their Obama": Comparing Huckabee to Obama, Rich observes, “Both men have a history of speaking across party and racial lines. Both men possess that rarest of commodities in American public life: wit. Most important, both men aspire (not always successfully) to avoid the hyper-partisanship of the Clinton-Bush era.”

But wait! Presidents bring their wives with them to the White House, where they, too, exert a profound influence on the tone of the administration.

According to Steve Clemons of The Washington Note, Huckabee’s wife Janet bears watching. On December 9th he posted "An Interesting Email Exchange with Mike Huckabee Spouse: Janet Huckabee”: ”In 2004, an associate of a friend began a correspondence with Janet Huckabee, wife of then Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. His concern at the time was that Janet Huckabee was simply too aggressive and snarky at a polling station when challenging those who did not show identification at the polls -- and in some cases, sending people away when it was, in fact, their right to vote whether or not they chose to show identification.”

What follows is a fascinating exchange of e-mails between Clemon’s source and Janet Huckabee. Clemons also points out that the Huckabees registered with Target to make it easy for their friends and supporters to buy presents for them for their farewell party from the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion.

That doesn’t bother me nearly as much as Janet’s efforts to discourage people from voting. Each election I work on the national voter protection hotline with the National Campaign for Fair Elections to prevent such behavior.

(photo of 1974 Huckabee wedding – Political Ticker CNN blog; chart: Wonkosphere)