Mike Huckabee

From the maker of “The Muppets” to the mayor of Boston, the list of folks severing ties with Chick-fil-A due to the fast-food company's opposition to gay marriage is growing. Jim Henson Co., which has produced characters for “The Muppets,” “Labyrinth” and “Fraggle Rock,” had recently been working with the Atlanta restaurant chain to create products for its kids' meals. The offerings included five build-your-own puppets from Jim Henson's Creature Shop, using pieces that are punched out from the plastic meal container, according to a cached version of the Chick-fil-A website.

Protesting can be hard work - gathering petition signatures under the beating sun, chaining one's self to trees, boycotting a favorite store or picketing family-planning clinics all take work with little immediate reward. But Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee have a pretty tasty demonstration in mind, if you share their views on traditional marriage. “No signs and no protests are needed to make your voice heard.  Just simply have a meal at Chick-fil-A on August 1 for 'Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day' and our support for traditional values will be heard loud and clear,” Rick Santorum wrote in an email Wednesday to supporters.

TAMPA, Fla. - Political conventions are magnets for folks with all sorts of causes, quite unrelated to presidential politics. But one event at the Republican National Convention brought together, among others, Mike Huckabee - the former Arkansas governor, Fox News host and bass guitarist - and Bernie Williams, former New York Yankees center fielder and Latin-Grammy-nominated classical guitarist. They met on Monday afternoon, before the action heated up at the Tampa Bay Times Arena, for an unusual panel discussion a few blocks away at the Tampa Theater, a baroque 1926s movie palace.

Onetime Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee has a new gig: He's the latest political analyst to join Fox News. The cable news network officially named the former Arkansas governor as a contributor to its election coverage on Thursday. --Matea Gold

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee broke his silence Monday and defended his decision to support freedom for a convict now wanted in the ambush slayings of four Seattle-area police officers. "If I could have known nine years ago that this guy was capable of something of this magnitude, obviously I would never have granted the commutation," Huckabee said. FOR THE RECORD: Police shooting: An article in Tuesday's Section A about the shooting deaths of four Lakewood, Wash., police officers and another about former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's granting of clemency to suspect Maurice Clemmons said that Clemmons was released from jail a week before the attack on $15,000 bond.

The less educated and those earning fewer dollars tend to favor the more conservative Republican presidential contenders, such as Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, while Mitt Romney draws his support from those with more education and income, according to Gallup data and analysis released on Monday. The data also paint a picture of a GOP presidential field that currently is populated by essentially regional voices -- favorite sons and daughters who do best in their own backyards but have failed so far to excite those elsewhere.

Political advisors and close associates of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee remained in the dark Friday about what he will say Saturday night when he announces his decision about whether to pursue another White House bid – an indication he has decided not to jump in the 2012 race, they said. "My assumption is that obviously making this kind of decision without telling us sort of indicates he’s not going to run," said veteran Republican strategist Ed Rollins, who served as Huckabee’s campaign chairman in his 2008 race and has been informally advising him for the last several months.

Mike Huckabee going all "Black Swan" on Natalie Portman was the capper to what's been an interesting and attention-getting week for the possible 2012 presidential candidate. Along with criticizing the Hollywood star's pregnancy, Huckabee reignited the eternally simmering debate in conservative circles about President Obama's origins, first by claiming the president grew up in Kenya and then by making a disparaging reference to Obama and madrassas. Huckabee's seeming full-on embrace of the Republican Party's most controversial elements didn't begin with those remarks, however.

While the presidential campaign hasn't officially started, Mitt Romney leads the pack in pre-campaign fundraising by a handful of potential Republican presidential contenders, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. The former governor of Massachusetts and millionaire founder of Bain Capital raised more than $5.5 million in 2010 through Free and Strong America, his federal political action committee. The PAC closed out the year with nearly $800,000 in cash on hand.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won several Republican primaries in the 2008 presidential race, said Saturday that he will not make a run for the White House in 2012. "All the factors say go, but my heart says no," Huckabee told viewers at the end of his Fox News program. "My answer is clear and firm. I will not seek the Republican nomination for president this year. I'm going to gladly continue doing what I do. " Since losing the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, Huckabee has fashioned a lucrative post-political career as an author, speaker and contributor to Fox News, where he makes about $500,000 a year in a contract that goes through 2012.