Huckabee's 2nd Place "Win" Surprised Campaign

Mike Huckabee's Iowa spokesperson tells the KY3 Political Notebook that the former Arkansas Governor's second place finish in the Iowa straw poll surprised many in the campaign.

I spoke to Huckabee spokesperson Eric Woolson just minutes after the results were released. You can tell the campaign is fired up. (During our conversation, at several points Woolson yelled "You guys did it! Thank YOU! . . .)

"Just yesterday we were talking about how Gov. Romney could get around 50% of the straw poll vote. I told the Governor yesterday, I was concerned we'd take third or fourth," Woolson said, in an obvious attempt to lower expectations even after the event.

"I think this shows that conservatives, who have some uncertainty about the top tier, are rallying around Governor Huckabee. They've been looking for a conservative to emerge from the second tier, and we really feel this puts him in the top tier," Woolson added.

Woolson said Huckabee should get more credit for his second place finish because the campaign didn't devote the resources to Ames that other campaigns had.

"Brownback rented 100 buses. Romney rented 125 buses. We did not have the money to rent a single bus," Woolson said. "This showing was a result of a mere $150,000 compared to $4 million spent by Mitt Romney, so I think everyone was surprised."

The bottom line is that this has been Mike Huckabee's best night of the campaign, but he must transfer this win into some money -- in order to compete with Mitt Romney's formidable Iowa ground organization.