This is news Republicans like to hear: The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey reveals that Mike Huckabee has pulled to within a single percentage point of Hillary Clinton and is only four points shy of Barack Obama. Of course, poll numbers are to be taken with a grain of salt, but it sure looks like the next couple of months are going to be interesting.

You can learn a lot about a person by looking at the contents of his wallet or her purse. What would we discover if we had the opportunity to sift through those of the presidential hopefuls? Columnist Lane Filler had the opportunity to do just that with Mike Huckabee’s wallet–and to surmise about the others.

Ron Paul has picked up an unlikely endorsement … one which he’d probably do well to distance himself from.

When it comes to politics, there’s always room for surprises–and Mike Huckabee is proving to be one. A new CBS/New York Times poll found that in Iowa, Huckabee is quickly gaining on front-runner Mitt Romney–21 to 27 percent, respectively.

While Romney still leads in Iowa, his support base is far softer than that of Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor whose campaign has gained momentum in recent weeks. Half of Huckabee supporters said they had made up their mind, compared to two-thirds of Romney supporters who said they could change their mind before caucus night. Overall, 57 percent of GOP caucus-goers said they haven’t settled on one candidate.

So what does this all mean for the Republican nomination? Quite simply, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

The Clinton campaign was none too happy about a New York Times story on Barack Obama. Seems the senator is a big fan of pickup basketball, and the story was a little too humanizing for comfort. The National Republic reports that such complaints are standard in the Clinton camp:

Reporters who have covered the hyper-vigilant campaign say that no detail or editorial spin is too minor to draw a rebuke. Even seasoned political journalists describe reporting on Hillary as a torturous experience. Though few dare offer specifics for the record–“They’re too smart,” one furtively confides. “They’ll figure out who I am”–privately, they recount excruciating battles to secure basic facts. Innocent queries are met with deep suspicion. Only surgically precise questioning yields relevant answers… “They’re frightening!” says one reporter who has covered Clinton. “They don’t see [reporting] as a healthy part of the process. They view this as a ruthless kill-or-be-killed game.”

Check out the rest of the story here. Is the Clinton campaign’s treatment of the press an attempt to stay “on message” a la “W” — or is it something else?