After Huckabee said he was leaning towards not running for President in 2012, Tim Pawlenty wants to make plenty sure that Huckabee knows the waters in 2011 and 2012 will be just as violent and turbulent as they were in 2007 and 2008, if not worse. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is considered an early Presidential favorite among many Republican Party insiders and media pundits on both sides.

By attacking Huckabee at this time, Governor Pawlenty is signaling his intentions to make the run for himself and he knows that the less competition he faces, the better off he's going to be. Especially in Iowa, which Huckabee won by a significant margin in 2008 and still enjoys a bit of support. Iowa, of course, shares it's northern border with Pawlenty's home state of Minnesota and Republicans in the northern areas of Iowa were an integral part of Huckabee's fan base. If Huckabee stays out of the race, Pawlenty will have a lot less competition to win their votes, allowing him to focus resources on the other parts of the state, which will still be necessary.

It appears that Clemmons not only shot four police officers, but he also shot Mike Huckabee - in the foot.

When Travis first wrote about this story on ktracy.com, he said very plainly that this is supposed to be the party of being tough on crime. Well, that was the cornerstone of Pawlenty's attack. Pawlenty proudly declared on the Laura Ingraham show that he has never given clemency to an inmate, ever. He admits to pardoning very small offenses AFTER their time is done and punishment is served, but if he was in Huckabee's shoes, those four police officers would still be alive today.

Odds are that Pawlenty is opening the flood gates to a wave of criticism of Huckabee from potential Presidential candidates who really don't want him in the 2012 race. The more hostile the waters are, the more likely he'll stay home at his show on the Fox Tabloid Channel. If the details of what over 1,000 convicts have done since Huckabee commuted their sentences were ever to come out, we would be absolutely hosed. For the sake of the Republican Party and conservative movement, Huckabee should come out now and say he won't seek the Presidency in 2012.

There's more fallout from the Clemmons scandal than just an attack by Governor Pawlenty.

Lauren Huckabee, Governor Huckabee's daughter-in-law, has resigned [many speculate she was forced to] from the staff of the US Senate candidate of Curtis Coleman, a Republican in Arkansas. That's significant because the Huckabee name has had a LOT of weight in Arkansas and there are signs now that even in the state, people are separating themselves from him.

That's not all, Jason Tolbert of the Tolbert Report recently announced his resignation as an Arkansas State Coordinator for HuckPAC (God bless Google Blogs, I would have missed this otherwise... Jason has a great blog, but it focuses heavily on Arkansas Politics, which I don't have time for as a Hoosier). He doesn't explain why exactly he resigned, but admits the recent news of Clemmons played a role in his decision. Tolbert has been a long time supporter of Governor Huckabee, so this is a huge loss for both Huckabee and his Political Action Committee. The longer you're on a bandwagon or in a team, the harder it is to force yourself to jump off and leave. Jason has been involved with Huckabee since before I even knew who the guy was and that he was running for President. If Jason's leaving, whatever his thinking behind the decision was, I'm sure it has to be for the most legitimate and sincere reasons.

For everybody else still on the Huckabee bandwagon, I ask you, how many more people have to be raped and killed before you realize you're supporting an terrible candidate?