Huckabee's elite backers.(Inside Track)(Mike Huckabee )

The much-touted "Huckabee Surge" in November-December opinion polls has been attributed by the major media pundits to the former Arkansas governor's performances in the televised GOP candidate debates and the recent discovery of him by Evangelical Christian voters. However, more skeptical observers might be inclined to note that Mike Huckabee's sudden jump in the polls was assisted by a quantum jump in media publicity, and that Huckabee, the supposed "outsider," has been given the stamp of approval by the ultimate political "insider" organization: the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

In a December 16 interview, CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked the candidate who his foreign-policy advisers are. "Well, I have a number of people from whom I get policy," Mr. Huckabee responded, mentioning by name Frank Gafney, Richard Haass, and John R. Bolton. Two of the three, Haass and Bolton, are members of the CFR. In fact, as Wolf Blitzer pointed out to the CNN audience, Richard Haass is president of the CFR.

Huckabee's anointing by the CFR was evident before the CNN interview, however. The council clued in its members that Huckabee was an acceptable candidate with a November 9 Washington Post op-ed by CFR Senior Fellow Michael ...