I'm usually a Letterman-over-Leno fan, but I have to say that in their first late-night faceoff since going back to work, Leno was the winner. Letterman's material was tired, and so was he, whereas Leno was definitely on top of his game. And Huckabee — well, it was clear why he's winning hearts, if not minds. Like an Iowan told Ben Montgomery in today's Times, "He has that charm in front of people that makes him look human." A reasonable facsimile of a human! Perfect!
But something's bugging me about Huckabee (besides his insane flat-tax talk and his belief that rampaging Pakistanis are pouring through our borders). He reminds me of someone, and I can't settle on who it is. I know there's some Nixon in there someplace, but it's more Nixon crossed with… Jack Lemmon? Kevin Spacey? The guy who played Bosley on Charlie's Angels? Anyone else have a suggestion?
This article appears in Jan 2-8, 2008.