Huckabee Will Probably Run in 2012

Mike Huckabee, everyone! He's that Republican everybody, even Democrats, loved in the primaries, because he talked about being nice to the poor and downtrodden. He was overweight once, but then he dieted, so he knew the struggles of "real Americans." He also cracked a decent joke every now and again, and seemed positively human in comparison to the motley assortment of robots, grumpy basset hounds, and ferrets who rounded out the primary field that year. And after he won Iowa, people thought (briefly) that maybe he even had a real shot at the presidency.

Those dreams were quickly dashed upon the rocky shores of Math, which dictated there was no way he would win the nomination after so many other primary states went for Romney or McCain. But Huckabee hung in there even after Romney dropped out, just to give John McCain a hard time.

It's that folksy stick-to-it-iveness that people are looking forward to seeing again in 2012, and Huckabee's looking forward to showing it. Want proof? He'll be the keynote speaker at a convention in Iowa, and everybody knows that the only reason to take a speaking engagement in Iowa is because you plan on running for president someday.

Nobody really knows what Huckabee will be talking about at the Iowa Association of Business and Industry's annual convention, but chances are it will feature some homespun wisdom and probably some remarks about Chuck Norris.

Huckabee biographer Sara K. Smith writes for NBC and Wonkette.