Late yesterday, Bill Clinton made an interesting statement while stumping for Hillary in Iowa. He predicted Mike Huckabee (who, like Clinton, hails from Hope, Arkansas) would win the Republican caucus today and even gave him a sort of hedging endorsement. From the Sun:

"Governor Huckabee has got a little hometown pride going because it looks like the Iowa republicans are going to give him the caucus." … "He looks to me like the only one who can tell a joke. It's a pretty dark crowd." … "You know he was underestimated. He's got on well here and it doesn't surprise me."

That's weird, huh? Especially since in some polls (like one in Arkansas, for example), Huckabee is the only candidate who poses a threat to Clinton's wife, Hillary. It's odd that Bubba would add his weight to Huckabee's momentum. Except, wait a minute, isn't this familiar? Didn't Karl Rove and President Bush sort of tout Hillary herself as an inevitable Democratic choice, thus playing into her "de facto nominee" primary strategy? Rove and Bush did it because they assume Hillary's negatives will take her down in the general election, so they felt safe encouraging her. Does former president Clinton feel that Huckabee is already flawed enough that he can't win in a national election? Or does he know something we don't (other than, you know, how to run a country) that might come up later? We're not sure. All we can tell you is you're lucky we're not drinking already.

President Clinton Predicts Huckabee Win in Iowa [NYS]