Huckabee Is In: What He'll Face in Round 2

Mike Huckabee is throwing his hat in the ring—again. The former governor of Arkansas today announced "I am a candidate for president of the United States of America" at the University of Arkansas Community College, in his hometown of Hope—which also happens to be the birthplace of Bill Clinton, USA Today reports. "Every day in my life in politics was a fight," Huckabee says in a video set to introduce him. "But any drunken redneck can walk into a bar and start a fight. A leader only starts a fight that he's prepared to finish." The video also notes Huckabee's ability to rise above "Bill Clinton's Arkansas," includes visuals of both Bill and Hillary Clinton, and describes his plan for a "maximum wage" for workers, per the AP. How his entrance is being framed:

• RealClearPolitics has Huckabee currently sitting sixth out of 14 current and potential GOP presidential candidates.
• Writing for the Washington Post, Karen Tumulty notes a few things in Huckabee's favor (he's a "gifted communicator" with solid name recognition), but sees the path as challenging. Though he won the 2008 Iowa caucuses, his funds soon petered out, and this time he'll face "credible" opponents, some of whom "are challenging him for the financial and political support of conservative Christians."
• At the New York Times, Trip Gabriel frames 2008 as the easier race. "The biggest question in voters' minds about Mr. Huckabee ... may be why he has returned to the fray. Although American politics is full of stories of the ultimate triumph of also-rans, from Richard M. Nixon to Ronald Reagan, Mr. Huckabee would seem to face greater obstacles than during his first presidential campaign, when he battled only a couple of rivals for the party's conservative base."
• How an NPR headline puts it: "Can Huckabee Overcome the 'New Car Smell' of Other Candidates?"

(More Mike Huckabee stories.)