Was Huckabee Confused about Appearing on Leno?

Yesterday Mike Huckabee flew from Iowa to Los Angeles to appear on Jay Leno's first new show since the writers' strike began. Before getting on the plane he told reporters that he supported the writers' strike but that since Leno had settled with the union, he wouldn't have to cross a picket line. In fact, of course, most of the country knows it was Letterman, not Leno, who has reached an agreement. When informed of that by a reporter, Huckabee told him he was wrong, then said "Oh" and promptly changed the subject.

There are two ways to read this. It was either yet another gaffe revealing that neither Huckabee nor political genius Ed Rollins know what is going on in the world, or, perhaps, it was a deliberate strategic move to attract Republican support, because neither country clubbers nor fundagelicals are big union fans.

My problem with the whole incident is that either Huckabee and his campaign manager didn't know what they were doing, or Huckabee was lying when he said he thought he wouldn't have to cross a picket line.

I did, however, see the show last night, and Huckabee was his usual charming and witty self. His performance certainly could boost his popularity in Iowa and beyond. That makes me inclined to adopt the second explanation. But who knows?