By Jason Tolbert

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee made a high-profile trek up to Iowa last Sunday to speak to a gathering of social conservatives. While being careful to stop short of an actual announcement, he sounded like a presidential candidate.

In fact, just days before the event, Huckabee made sure everyone knew that his appearance in Iowa was all about politics. The group sponsoring the event — Iowa Family Policy Center — promoted Huckabee’s appearance to Iowa churches saying he was coming “not as a politician, but as a pastor.”

Huckabee’s spokesman quickly put out a statement correcting this saying that Huckabee’s speech “will be political.” The statement pointed out Huckabee’s 2008 run for the presidency and his service as governor and lieutenant governor in Arkansas, all of which has taken place since Huckabee was a pastor more than 20 years ago.

At the event, he said he is open to the idea of running for president again and is giving it serious thought.

“I think I would be foolish not to, considering I have been through it and understand what it is about and also considering the fact that consistently I am in a very different position than I was four years ago,” Huckabee said, referring to his lead or strong showing in many early 2012 presidential polls.

But he said he still has a lot of “soul searching” to do before making a decision.

“I don’t plan to jump in a pool unless there is water in it,” Huckabee added, noting that part of the reason he was unsuccessful in 2008 was a lack of campaign funds.

From all appearances, Huckabee seems to be chomping at the bit to make another run, but a handful of items stand in his way.

As he points out, he has to find a way to raise enough money to compete. His track record on this front has been dismal. In 2008, his long-shot campaign ran on a shoestring budget. Since then, his political action committee — HuckPAC — has consistently lagged behind the organizations of other presidential contenders in fundraising.

Another factor is what Sarah Palin will decide to do. The former Alaska governor draws from the same evangelical base that catapulted Huckabee in the 2008 primaries. Both candidates’ strategies rely on a strong showing in the early primaries in Iowa and South Carolina.

Palin also visited Iowa on her book tour this past week and will visit Arkansas on Tuesday.

The final factor, which is somewhat of the elephant in the room, is whether Huckabee will be willing to step away from a successful, lucrative career in television and radio to step into what will no doubt be a brutal primary fight.

One year ago, Maurice Clemmons — a man set free on Huckabee’s watch as governor — walked into Forza Coffee Co. in Lakewood, Wash., and brutally murdered four police officers. If Huckabee runs, this will no doubt be the focus of countless ads from groups such as Victims Voice. The ads that ran in 2008 on Huckabee’s role in convicted rapist Wayne Dumond’s release from prison will pale in comparison to these new ads.

Huckabee indicated that a decision will not be forthcoming for at least another six months. No doubt he will drop many hints during that time as pundits read the tea leaves. But the longer he takes to decide, the more time he has to survey the political landscape while continuing to host his weekend television show and his weekday radio broadcast.

My read is that he wants to run but has not yet decided if it is worth the fight for the nomination.

Jason Tolbert

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Jason Tolbert is an accountant and conservative political blogger. His blog — The Tolbert Report — is linked at ArkansasNews.com. His e-mail is jason@TolbertReport.com.