Willie Hortonization of Mike Huckabee

When you become the frontrunner, the media plants a big 'ol fat juicy target on you.

So Mike Huckabee is learning.

The story isn't new, but with Huckabee now taking center stage in the GOP nominating contest, he's suddenly fair game for whatever crap his political opponents can dredge up.

In this case, it didn't take too much dredging: the story was one of the biggest in Arkansas while Huckabee was governor. It's a Willie Horton type of thing. This time, the criminal is a man named Wayne Dumond. He kidnapped and raped a 17-year-old high school cheerleader in 1984. While awaiting trial--he was free on bond--two masked men tied him up and castrated him. He was later convicted and sentenced to life plus 20 years.

During the Clinton governorship of Arkansas, the Democratic Lt. Governor reduced Dumond's sentence enough so he could qualify for parole. Then, during Huckabee's governorship, the parole board released Dumond, evidently with Huckabee's blessing.

You can guess the rest: Dumond moved to Missouri, where he subsequently sexually assaulted and murdered a 39-year-old woman. (These facts come from a Byron York column in the National Review, where they love to Willie Horton their own.)

Now the story is hitting the mainstream media--see, e.g., CNN's "Huckabee Faces Scrutiny For Involvement In Rapist Parole."

We wonder what other skeletons the Huckster has in his closet.