Huckabee Takes On Leno

NBC released a rush transcript of Mike Huckabee's appearance on the "Tonight Show" that is airing later this evening. The first part of the interview focused on Huckabee's personal story and the part after the commercial break focused on the WH race. Here are some highlights:

Huckabee, on his campaign: "I'm just trying to keep from going back to nowhere as fast as I can."

Asked about if his guitar playing is good enough for him to play with the "Tonight Show" band: "No, but I'd like to do it anyway."

Asked how he lost his weight: "The legislature kept eating my lunch every day."

Asked about his anti-Romney ad he showed at Monday's presser: "We just kept getting hammered with negative television ads, negative radio ads, and mail pieces. And finally, decided 'We had better answer this, or somebody is going to believe all this stuff.' ... Then he started hammering John McCain over in New Hampshire. John McCain may be a rival of mine in the presidential race, but I have nothing but respect for him. He's a great American hero. I think he's a great American and a wonderful man, and a great guy. ... So we put together an ad and taped the tape, got it all ready. We were going to release it at a press conference, and Monday I just didn't feel right. We had gotten where we are by being positive."

More Huckabee: "I needed to go take a shower or something like that or give Romney a shower maybe."

A few other highlights from the show: Jay Leno showed Huckabee's first appearance on the program, which was back in Huckabee's GOV days, before he lost his weight and was living in a trailer while the AR governor's mansion underwent renovation. Leno commented: "You supported the monologue for weeks with that." And when the show came back from commercial break, Huckabee was playing his guitar with the show's band. The only mention of Iowa came at the end of the interview when Leno said "I know you've got to get back to Iowa" and then added "I love Iowa." [EMILY GOODIN]