With a remarkably unpopular president, an increasingly hated war and discombobulation within the Republican Party, it appears the Democratic presidential nominee should be a lock to win next November. A token warning, however: it’s never over ’til it’s over.

The Democratic Party has shown its inability to squander political opportunities many times in the past. The one man who will give his nominee a serious run for his money is lurking in the shadows of Republican frontrunners Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson. Democrats should be hoping and praying that their opponent come November is anybody but Mike Huckabee.

The former governor of Arkansas and ardent supporter of the Second Amendment (and of the NRA) is armed with a plan to completely dismantle the federal tax code.

Who doesn’t hate the IRS?

Owing to his remarkably successful decade as governor of Arkansas, he packs a resume with more punch than most any other candidate in the field. He has appeal to the powerful Christian Right for his track record on abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage. Still, he has been forced to fight out of the basement for the nomination. With his credentials, he should not be stuck in neutral, but lapping the rest of the field en route to the Republican nomination. Results have just begun coming in over the last few months as Huckabee is gaining in national polls and is inching toward the lead in Iowa.

He is trying to present himself as the sole candidate without personal and professional baggage that will surely be exploited by the Democrats in the general election.

First, Mitt Romney has a long and documented history of flip-flopping on a smorgasbord of issues from abortion to his desire to serve in Vietnam. The extent of his indecisive nature makes it a crime to label John Kerry this way as well. Further, the Christian Right has been apprehensive of his Mormon religion and whether or not Mormonism shares the same goals and beliefs of other Christian sects.

Rudy Giuliani comes from the same type of model. His previous actions as mayor of New York endeared him to millions for his cool leadership after the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center. But his record of mildly supporting gay marriage, gun-control and abortion has the Christian right and arch-conservatives expressing doubts – even with his lead in national polls.

Former actor Fred Thompson jumped into the game late, and this may turn out to be a poorly calculated move as he missed out on critical fundraising opportunities. His appearance in last week’s Republican debate did very little to project a presidential image. The first televised debates were crucial in contrasting John F. Kennedy’s youthfulness to Richard Nixon’s pallid figure in 1960; the same will happen for Thompson, who looks eternally sad and exhausted. His performance was not very strong, either, and he appeared nervous, giving unsure answers. Thompson was hyped as the answer to the Republican woes, but he has not gotten off to a very impressive start.

In contrast, Mike Huckabee has those qualities that separate candidates from presidents. From the same small town as Bill Clinton, Huckabee served as a Southern Baptist pastor before entering politics. Time magazine named him one of the top five governors in the country and Governing magazine named him one of their eight Public Officials of the Year in 2005. He also exhibited a steadfast determination when he lost 110 pounds after being diagnosed with type II diabetes. His health turnaround was cemented when he ran the New York Marathon in 2006.

Socially, he is the conservative that the religious wing of the Republican Party is desperately looking for. With talks of the organization of a Christian third party, social conservatives are missing the fact that Huckabee opposes abortion, signed a ban on same-sex marriage into law and ardently refuses to allow stem cell research. No other serious candidate can brag of such a history, and his nomination would mobilize the powerful Christian Right, whose participation could swing the election in the Republicans’ favor.

Still, Huckabee is not a perfect candidate. Though he claims to have lowered taxes 94 times, two think-tanks have ridiculed him for actually raising them. On his tax and spending policies, one gave him a failing grade and the other labeled him a liberal.

Huckabee is also more moderate on the rights of illegal immigrants because he believes this current wave of immigrants grant the United States a chance to depart from sordid racist history. For example, he has refused to ban them from receiving state services although he supports the construction of a wall along the shared border with Mexico.

As the first primaries edge closer, the Republican Party’s core will continue to express dissatisfaction with the field of candidates, but Huckabee now has the third position in Iowa and is in prime position to build on the momentum. He seems like the perfect candidate for the Christian Right and whatever excites this enormously powerful organization causes nightmares for Democrats. Mike Huckabee has the resum