Isn’t the love/hate relationship that Republicans are having with Gov. Mike Huckabee fascinating?

Conservative pundits don’t seem content to express a degree of being uncomfortable with the GOP Iowa caucus winner. They’re simply trashing him. Some of the vitriol I’ve seen and heard is the type of stuff we professional blowhards usually reserve for liberal extremists like Hillary or Nancy Pelosi.

But in Iowa, it obviously didn’t stick. Iowans rejected the claims that Huckabee is a “RINO” (Republican-in-name-only), a tax-loving, pro-illegal immigrant, big government kind of guy and gave him a relatively easy Iowa win, a victory that came after weeks and weeks of polls showing Gov. Mitt Romney benefiting from the tons of money he spent there.

The story of a candidate who was outspent in a key race by about 20 to 1 surging to victory is an impressive one. And Gov. Huckabee and his staff and volunteers are to be congratulated for the Iowa win.

But to put it simply: Iowa ain’t Florida.

Our media-driven fascination with the Iowa caucuses is well established, but deceptive. Year after year, we’ve seen candidates take Iowa and fail to capture the presidential nomination.

I don’t say that to throw a wet blanket on the Huckabee victory. It’s just a fact that bears repeating in the midst of the news media hyperventilating over Iowa.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani barely scored any votes at all in Iowa but seems perfectly content to focus on Florida and Texas (and yes, New Hampshire) with a sort of confidence that a presidential nominee needs to have.

And like many other issues, I think Rudy “gets it.”

Early on, the Giuliani camp saw that Iowa was going to be a Romney/Huckabee story for Republicans. And it was. Giuliani has a political instinct well suited for this nationwide race and I believe he’s going to do quite well, well enough to secure the nomination.

But then again, I’m just a pundit with an opinion, the type of opinion that a bunch of Mitt Romney supporters saw fall apart in Iowa.

It’s hard to tell why so many Republican voices, outside of Iowa, seem to despise Mike Huckabee. Frankly, many of them sound positively afraid of him. Continued...