If you have listened to Glen Beck’s radio program or Mike Huckabee’s “The Huckabee Report” than you have probably heard them talk up the benefits of buying gold from Goldline.

“Goldline is a solid, reputable company helping investors diversify their portfolios, which I believe is critical in these uncertain economic times,” said Huckabee when signing a contract for them to be a major advertiser for his radio show. “The Goldline team has tremendous experience and a keen understanding of the precious metals markets. They are certainly the ‘go to’ people for buying gold and silver.”

But the company is currently under investigation for pushing the sales of overpriced collectible coins. ABC News reports….

There are two main types of complaints we’re seeing,” said Adam Radinsky of the Santa Monica City Attorney’s office, which has launched what it described as a joint investigation with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office.

“One is that customers say that they were lied to and misled in entering into their purchases of gold coins,” he said. “And the other group is saying that they received something different from what they had ordered.”

In an interview broadcast on Good Morning America, Radinsky said the probe is in its early stages and involves more than 100 consumer complaints about Goldline and Superior.

Goldline executive vice president Scott Carter was on ABC’s Good Morning America this morning defending his sales practices (video above.)  According to him, the collectible coins are pushed because the government could take gold bullion from private citizens pointing to 1933 during the depreciation when the government purchased private gold stock at the current market price.

Goldline’s website touts the “testimonials” from Beck and Huckabee as well as former Presidential candidate Fred Thompson as evidence of the company’s creditability.

First, I know a little bit about foundations and typically they don’t have chancellors.  That is a title that normally goes to one of the head honchos at the actually university, not the foundation. Maybe this is some sort of new honorary thing, but it is a bit of an odd title for someone who is raising money.

Second, Victory University President John Borek says in the article ”Huckabee will not be paid for his foundation work.”  Now that is odd.  Huckabee is a hard ticket to book for a speaking engagment.  Normally, you have to shell out over $30,000 plus expenses to get him to show up and give a speech.  If he were doing pro bono fundraising, why not help out an Arkansas college such as his alma mater (and mine) Ouachita Baptist University? 

The article does say something about him getting some sort of payment from Significant Federation which just bought Victory University.  They also remamed the school from its old name Crichton College and changed it from a non-profit to a for-profit.  So maybe Huckabee’s chancellor work is a bit more on the for-profit side as well.

Anyway, someone smarter than me will have to explain this one.  I don’t get it.

When Huckabee was a boy, he used to sneak a look at his Christmas presents—and then wrap them back up before Mom and Dad found out. The scheme worked until Mike didn’t clean a muddy football before re-wrapping it. Discover how a little boy’s curiosity and impatience led him to understand the true meaning of Christmas!

It is set for release on October 19. No word yet if it will include a book tour.

On whether the tea partiers will oppose him for raising taxes in Arkansas: “No. I was tea party before there was such a thing. If people go back and listen to what I said during the campaign, read the books that I’ve written, what they’re going to say is that, ‘Gosh, this guy was the tea party message before anyone identified it as a tea party’ … The fact is, I got criticized in 2007 and 2008 for the very things that have been the centerpiece of the tea party message. What I did in Arkansas was what the federal government should have done: I balanced the budget. I lowered more taxes than I ever was a part of raising. And I raised taxes only as a part of a court-ordered issue of dealing with an education crisis.”

In the past, Mike Huckabee has been a bit leery of the Tea Party movement so this is quite a claim.  My memory of Huckabee’s time as governor was that he was a level headed common sense conservative who was criticized from the right for not being conservative enough, hardly a “Tea Party” type of message.  And if balancing the budget makes one a Tea Party pioneer, then every governor of Arkansas since the 1930’s can claim this as well, including current Gov. Mike Beebe and former Gov. Bill Clinton.

If anyone from Arkansas should get credit for this, it should be former Gov. J. Marion Futrell who truly did make radical changes to Arkansas’ fiscal policy during a time of economic crisis in the 1930’s.  Maybe Gov. Futrell invented the Tea Party.

The show will air at various time on local Fox channels.  No official word yet if or when it will air on Little Rock’s Fox affiliate – Fox 16.  I have asked and will let you know.

All the latest flurry of talk of Huckabee running for President in 2012 will likely boost the ratings on his new endeavor.  In addition to “The Huckabee Show,” Huckabee will continue to boardcast his weekly show “Huckabee” on FoxNews and his daily radio show “The Huckabee Report” on ABC Radio.

UPDATE – Little Rock’s Fox 16 says it is not one of the seven stations that will be participating in the six week test run.

Hello,

I am the Audience Coordinator for the new syndicated daytime talk show Huckabee. I wanted to offer you the chance to come to one of our tapings in New York. The all new show will be hosted by Governor Huckabee along with a different celebrity co-host for each show. They will cover a wide range of fascinating topics.

Tapings will begin taking place on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays starting on July 19th and will run through September 3rd. They will be taped at the FOX studios in New York and all members of the audience must be at least 18 years of age. Monday tapings will take place at 10am and on Tuesdays and Thursdays there will be two tapings, both in the morning and afternoon.

To request seats, please reply to this email with your full name, three preferred dates of attendance, the number of seats you would like, and a contact phone number. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. Tickets are free of charge.

We look forward to having you be part of our audience!

Audience Department
Huckabee
1-877-225-TKTS (8587)
hucktix@foxnews.com

Mike Huckabee appeared this weekend on Fox News Sunday discussing whether he would run for President in 2012 (video edits from Politico.)  He continues to hint at it without directly saying if he will.

“I haven’t closed the door. I think that would be foolish on my part, especially when poll after poll shows that there is strong sentiment out there. I end up leading a lot of the polls. I’m the Republican that clearly, at this point, does better against Obama than any other Republican,” said Huckabee.

It is interesting that Huckabee continues to point to the opinion polls and the push to get him to run as some sort of external force. The director of his Political Action Committee HuckPAC – which has evolved into his de facto press spokeman – Hogan Gidley has been pushing around an email (obtained by the Tolbert Report) that complains about Huckabee’s exclusion from the latest Rasmussen 2012 Presidential poll.

“Rasmussen Reports is a media company and the polling questions all come down to an editorial decision on our part,” defended Rasmussen to Gidley. “We have included Governor Huckabee in many previous polls looking ahead to the 2012 race. I am sure we will do so again. However, we often include different groupings of candidates for different types of poll topics, especially those of a hypothetical nature. We’ve heard from many of Mr. Huckabee’s supporters in response to our latest poll, and we’ve passed along the comments to our editorial staff.”

“Thanks and that’s very interesting,” responded Gidley. “I’m not a pollster, so I appreciate the response and information of how you choose what candidates to put in your polls. I did have one more question though – how many ‘editorial decisions’ have you made in the past year resulting in an in omission of Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney from you polls?”

The email was leaked to Huckabee supporters who were encouraged to contact Rasmussen as well. It is apparent that the recent press of Huckabee running in 2012 is being driven or at least helped along the way by Huckabee’s organization. While this is nothing out of the ordinary for someone in Huckabee’s position, you should keep it in mind when reading the flurry of press speculating that he might run.

Will he? Your guess is as good as mine but in the meantime, it has to be good for his ratings.

I don’t think it is a secret to anyone that Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin have a bit of a former Republican governor and possible Presidential candidates rivalry going on. This is the make drop for some jokes that Huckabee launched at Palin this weekend on Fox News.

Huckabee asked “Is Palin inhalin?” then showed a clip of Palin stating that she opposes the legalization of marijana but thinks it should not be a high priority of law enforcement. Huckabee then joked saying “After Sarah Palin made these comments, she then produced a gram of coke from her purse and did line after line on the glass table.”

This week a number of political pundits have started up talk about my running for President in 2012, with one even calling me the (sic) ”the Secret Frontrunner.”

While the talk is flattering, my current political focus is completely on the 2010 elections. In fact, I won’t even discuss possibly running for President until after the November elections.

We have to keep our eye on the ball.

From my experience, a flurry of stories about the possibility of someone running for President does not spontaneously happen but rather it is driven by a candidates organization. I have trouble believing this is an exception.

Full email from Huckabee on the jump.

Dear Friend,

Arkansas and America are worried. With every bill, edict and bureaucratic mandate, President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are inching our republic towards the brink of insolvency. Meanwhile, liberals in Washington continue their relentless assault on our nation’s moral values. Whether passing a socialized healthcare system that uses tax dollars to fund abortions, fast-tracking a radical liberal agenda, or stuffing the federal judiciary with activist judges who seek to legislate from the bench, liberals will stop at nothing to destroy the moral fabric of our great nation!

Unfortunately, Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln has been marching lockstep with President Obama and Harry Reid. Obama was even nice enough to cut radio ads and run robocalls on Blanche’s behalf. And for good reason!

Blanche supported Obamacare, voted for taxpayer-funded abortions, co-sponsored card check legislation and signed off on bailout, after bailout, after bailout. In short, she’s abandoned the people of Arkansas, and now it’s time for Arkansans to abandon Blanche!

Thankfully, Arkansans have an amazing alternative in Congressman John Boozman. While America is on a catastrophic collision course, John Boozman is exactly the kind leader we need to slam on the breaks!

John is a small business owner, medical practitioner, husband, and father of three. He is a strong fiscal and social conservative with a track record of putting principal above politics and character above calculations. John Boozman knows what it takes to build jobs in Arkansas because he’s done it as a small business owner for over 25 years. He is a strong Christian leader with a sound moral compass, and we need to send him to Washington! That’s why I’m asking for your support.

John needs your help! From California to Washington D.C, liberal, out-of-state money is pouring into Arkansas to manipulate public opinion. Big Labor, special interest groups, and other hostile liberal organizations will spend millions to destroy our state and defeat John. We need your help now to stop them in their tracks!

Please join me by going to John’s website, signing up for his campaign updates, and making a contribution now! The stakes are too high. Now is not the time for complacency.

I believe our country’s best days lay ahead of us, but we must elect folks like John Boozman in order to achieve that. Join me by making a contribution and supporting John Boozman today.

Fighting for Arkansas,

Mike Huckabee

Obviously these defeats – particularly in South Carolina and in Iowa – will have an impact on the 2012 Presidential landscape. But that is the gamble you take when you endorse in a primary. Huckabee defended the endorsements this morning on his HuckPAC website.

“Some thought that my support for candidates who weren’t the establishment picks would not be good for MY political future – so let me explain something to the self-appointed ‘insiders’ who are trying to understand why HuckPAC and I support candidates,” wrote Huckabee. “I don’t support candidates based on how it will affect my political future, but how it will affect the future of the country. I don’t support candidates just because they may already have the money, momentum and machinery. More often than not, I like to help underdogs who actually believe in something other than getting elected – who are principled, pro-life, proven conservatives whose stand on the issues is based on conviction and not political convenience.”

“Let’s move toward November with confidence and conviction – and if the pundits and old time politicians don’t understand that, then too bad,” concluded Huckabee.