Huckabee is Paulie Walnuts to John McCain’s Tony Soprano, says Dan Schur in today’s NYT, responsible for kneecapping Romney and now more useful than ever as a foil against which McCain can reveal himself as a truer heir to Reagan. To play that role, Huckabee has to have one advantage. It’s Paulie’s pure violence that both makes him valuable and ultimately incapable of being the leader he wants to be, which is why Tony needs him but always rises above him. Likewise, it’s Huck’s fundamentalism that the Republican Party needs and yet must relegate to supporting cast status if it’s to hold onto power.