Huckabee Shows Off His Inner John Edwards

The other day I posted on some of Huckabee's rhetoric which has earned him some compliments on the Left. It looks like he's decided that this is fertile ground to plow:

“The headlines are that the economy’s doing great. … But if you go out and talk to the people who work on the floors of factories, or you talk to waitresses who are doing their second job and schoolteachers who have to work an extra job, you don’t get quite the confidence of how great the economy’s doing.”

“There are a lot of people who are working harder than they ever worked, they’re staying at best even. But their cost of health care, their cost of fuel, their cost of college education means that no matter how hard they’ve worked, they’re not quite making it to the next level. That’s a sensitivity the president better have.”

“If you’re really going to say I’m applying my faith to the world on which I live, that has to conclude concerns about the environment, it has to include concerns about poverty and hunger. It can’t just be about abortions and same-sex marriage.”

“It’s ridiculous to think that any one political group owns God. That’s absurd.”

“We can’t ignore that there are kids every day in this country that literally don’t have enough food. And don’t have adequate drinking water. In America.”

But all of the quotes were from former Republican Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee at this morning’s Christian Science Monitor breakfast.

Frankly, I'm not really sure what this gets him. I can understand him deciding to take advantage of the attention to his strong showing at Ames. He has an opportunity now to showcase something that might vault him closer to the proverbial 'top tier.' But what in the world made him decide to show off his inner John Edwards?

If Huckabee wants to do something different and striking to make a strong positive impression on primary voters considering him for the first time. He could promise to maintain a long-term presence in Iraq. He could declare a pro-life litmus test for judicial appointments. He could promise that tax reductions would take a backseat to an expanded military under his administration. Heck. He could even promise to stop illegal immigration completely.

Why is he choosing to show off a side of him that earns unfavorable comparisons and turns off many primary voters?