The others were in pivotal places elsewhere: John McCain hammering his case with veterans in Iowa, Mitt Romney courting Republican women in Texas, and Rudolph W. Giuliani shaking hands in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
So what was Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee -- the near-asterisk in the polls, the former governor more famous for losing 110 pounds than anything he did in office, the second-best politician to come out of tiny Hope, Ark. -- doing in an office park in Irvine?
Whatever he can.
In a lawyer's conference room Wednesday, Huckabee was working to impress three dozen members of the local Lincoln Club, hitting on the issues -- during the portion that was open to reporters -- in a soothing voice that masked some rather pointed rhetoric.
On energy independence: "This is a country that when it says it has to do something, it can do it."
On a controversial ad denouncing Iraq war commander Army Gen. David H. Petraeus: "Ridiculous, embarrassing, disgusting, appalling, absolutely inexcusable."
On the Republican-backed 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border: "It's just not long enough," he said to laughter, before taking care to note that he is not angry at immigrants, but "at our government for sitting on their hands for over 20 years and doing absolutely nothing to stop a problem that has now boiled over."
At the end, after applause that veered from polite to enthusiastic, he said goodbye, with a hint. "I'm looking forward to coming back and hopefully reaching deep into your heart and pocket for the opportunity to help our campaign across the country," he said.
On television, campaigns are patriotic bunting, well-lit beaming candidates, and confetti that falls just so onto the shoulders of rapturous supporters in massive arenas. In reality, campaigns are a long slog through lawyers' conference rooms, candidates pleading with potential supporters -- in small groups and minuscule ones -- for their hearts and pocketbooks.
That is particularly true for candidates like Huckabee, straining to emerge from the back of the pack, yearning to hit double digits in the polls, glad for the chance to convince even one more voter that those at the top of the heap have nowhere to go but down. And him? Quite the opposite could be true.
"People forget how rapidly the whole field can change," he said in an interview.
