CHAUTAUQUA–Well, well, well.

Isn’t this good news? And refreshingly good at that.

Chautauqua Institution announced on May 25 that Mike Huckabee will deliver an amphitheater lecture at 10:45 a.m. July 25.

Come one, come all. This one is going to be good. You can bet your boots on that.

Huckabee, an ordained minister, was lieutenant governor of Arkansas from 1993 to 1996 and governor from 1996 to 2007.

If you’re not familiar with him, tune in to his hour-long Nashville-based television show at 8 p.m. ET Saturdays, rebroadcast at 11 p.m. ET Saturdays and 9 p.m. ET Sundays, on TBN, the Trinity Broadcast Network.

Each weekend in this columnist’s home, one Huckabee fan eagerly anticipates “the governor.”

That’s right. “The governor.” Definite article.

Why shouldn’t she?

And others in other homes?

“The governor” is bright. He’s fun. He’s quick on his feet. He’s likeable. He relates as easily to big shots as he does to the next person walking down the road.

On top of all of that, he’s a principled movement conservative who can bring conservative-movement ideas to any diner, truck stop, and kitchen table in America. Not everyone can do that.

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Although this is one person and one lecture at Chautauqua, this is progress for an organization that, shall we say, hasn’t flooded its stage with such lecturers in recent years.

Speakers with right-of-center credentials have been few and have tended to have only slight right-of-center credentials, be Republicans In Name Only (RINOs), be Never Trumps, or be evolving liberals.

All of which are fine to have, yet it’s also fine to have speakers such as Huckabee, who is none of those.

So good for Chautauqua for bringing diversity of ideas to the morning-lecture stage. Let’s hope this progress continues.

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Now let’s turn the spotlight away from Chautauqua and back to Huckabee in a way unrelated to his July 25 visit.

You, faithful reader of this column, know that–absent an incumbent Republican president seeking another term–Republicans beginning in 1948 have tended to nominate for president someone who has previously run for president or has been vice president.

There are exceptions: Eisenhower 1952, Goldwater 1964, Bush 2000, and Trump 2016.

Yet they’re outnumbered by Dewey 1948, Nixon 1960, Nixon 1968, Reagan 1980, Bush 1988, Dole 1996, McCain 2008, and Romney 2012.

Huckabee, having sought the GOP nomination in 2008 and 2016, would be on the latter list if he received the nomination in 2024.

If the Hope, Ark., native–sound familiar?–has any desire to seek the 2024 nomination, has even hinted that he might, or has done anything about it, this column isn’t unaware of it.

In fact, he has endorsed the 45th president in his quest to be the 47th president.

If, however, 45 changes his mind about being 47, that opens the door that Huckabee’s endorsement for now has closed.

Besides, it would be more than good to nominate a bright, fun, quick-on-his-feet, likeable, principled movement conservative who relates as easily to big shots as he does to the next person walking down the road and who can bring conservative-movement ideas to any diner, truck stop, and kitchen table in America.

On top of all of that, he’s old enough to have had multiple decades of professional experience of many varieties which he can ably bring to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. as the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 20, 2025.

A path to victory isn’t hard to see if “the governor” receives his party’s nomination in 2024.

Would it take a lot of work?

It always does.

Nevertheless, Huckabee has what it takes: The character, leadership ability, experience, and ideas both to win the presidency and serve the American people well.

Whatever happens in 2024, his morning lecture will be well worth attending in 2023.

Dr. Randy Elf will be at Chautauqua at 10:45 a.m. July 25, and hopes you will be too.

COPYRIGHT ç 2023 BY RANDY ELF