The headlines say "Huckabee taps veteran strategist in White House bid" and "Former Reagan Campaign Director Ed Rollins Joins Mike Huckabee"

Which I guess, make better headlines than "Huckabee hires guy who was so desperate for work that he signed on to run Katherine Harris’ Senate campaign" or "Former Campaign Director of Crazy Rich Lady Who Tried to Run Against Hillary Last Year Joins Mike Huckabee"*

For those of you who had the misfortune to miss Ms. McFarland: She was an upper east side matron (one of her homes, anyway) who did something or other in the Reagan administration, and she thought the Mayor of Yonkers, the leading GOP candidate, was crude (she wasn’t, actually, wrong about that).

Ed Rollins signed on to be her campaign manager, he being at loose ends since his stint as Ms. Harris’ campaign manager didn’t work out (you can see we’re dealing with a guy who only works for the best). He distinguished himself almost immediately by suggesting that Mr. Spencer’s Vietnam career wasn’t terribly distinguished, because pretty much anybody over there who didn’t die got promoted. Of course, by that time, she’d already told the press that Hillary was having her shadowed by black helicopters, so the NYSGOP probably would have endorsed her opponent even if she hadn’t refused to fire Mr. Rollins.**

Mr. Rollins wasn’t giving up, though. He convinced her to spend the money to fund a petition drive to get her on the ballot as the sole candidate of the shiny new Jobs and Security Party (a ballot line in a NYS election is a very valuable thing for a New York consultant). That didn’t work out either, because, well

REPUBLICAN Kathleen (KT) McFarland’s bid for a second ballot line in November’s Senate race is in trouble amid allegations she filed nearly 5,000 too few signatures. The Conservative Party, which backs her rival, John Spencer, in the Sept. 12 GOP primary, filed a challenge to her petitions yesterday. Spencer spokesman Rob Ryan said McFarland filed only 10,266 signatures at the state Board of Elections last week – far short of the 15,000 required. "They probably figured if nobody checks and nobody files a complaint, nobody is going to know," Ryan said. "This is just another example of the desperation of the McFarland campaign. It’s sad." McFarland’s election lawyer, Josh Erlich, acknowledged that he didn’t count the signatures. "At the time, it looked okay," he said. "If everybody delivered the petitions they said they were, it would have been okay."

So, um, good luck with that, Mike.

*They both certainly beat the hell out of "Guy who said he bribed black ministers to suppress turnout for Christie Whitman gets a job"

Anyway, you really want to click through and read the crazy rich lady link. It was pretty epic.

**There were, of course, other factors – NYSGOP politics are nothing if not byzantine – but still, it takes some powerful political mojo to be even the stated reason that our state party organization put themselves behind a guy who had two unacknowledged babies with his mayoral office manager while he was still living with his wife and kids.