Huckabee put out a long response (tip: The first line of these should always begin “In a desperate attempt to…”) which Phil details below. Not a bad response if accurate. He appropriately does raise the interesting topic some of us have asked: Why did Romney never grant a single pardon? Well Anthony Circosta would like to know too.

UPDATE: From a GOP operative not associated with either Romney or Huckabee comes this observation: “The contrast between the warmth of Gov. Huckabee’s latest ad and the shrillness of the Romney attack ad is stark. The former reflects a relaxed, confident, almost content figure. The latter is the ad of a desperate politician with everything riding on Iowa. Coupled with his weird emotionalism and cavalier disregard for the facts on Meet the Press, Gov. Romney is looking less presidential by the minute.” Another pipes up: “Mitt Romney is attacking on crime? This is like Hillary Clinton attacking on universal health care, or John Edwards attacking on expensive haircuts. I don’t think he has much credibility on this one.”