The thing is that all of this fit the event perfectly: Huckabee's populism wouldn't be as credible if his event didn't look so ad hoc. Timothy Egan pointed this out a little while ago, arguing that it was an act that covered up the candidate's ego and high living. But it sounds credible because Huckabee really is a populist. This video from the rally shows Chuck Norris introducing the candidate with a whine about how big corporations and celebrities like him don't pay their fair share of taxes. You know who else makes that argument? Bill Clinton.
I detected a different tone to Huckabee's rhetoric than the tone he used in Iowa. Simply put, he's trying to sound like a Free Stater. And it isn't convincing. His education solution was a return to "this thing called the 10th Amendment" and local schooling. His health care solution: "I don't trust the government or the insurance companies." If you've been watching Ron Paul's ads, that will ring a bell. The next line on health care was a howler: "You live your life however you want. I'm not going to tell you how to live. That's not my plan." So says the candidate who favors a national smoking ban.
On the military: "I want our armed forces beefed up to the point that they're Chuck Norris approved."
Huckabee's crowd was modest, good enough to fill a small college's gym (your high school's gym was probably comparable), a sign that he doesn't have enough support to break into the McCain-Romney race for first. The voters who did show up, though (they trickled in for more than an hour after the event kicked off) were moved and devoted to their guy, worshipful in a way only McCain and Paul fans have been worshipful. "The best thing I can say about him is that I could introduce him as my father and be proud to show him off," said committed Huckabe backer Susie Prescott.