House Speaker Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg) announced the other day that he will be the campaign chairman for Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

Howell said that he had “been looking about, and not really being 100 percent sold on a lot of people.” But when he heard Huckabee speak he was “really very impressed with not only his message and vision but his delivery.”

Howell and Huckabee talked after the speech and the rest is history as they say–Howell didn’t waste any time in signing up to be Huckabee’s point man in Virginia.

So could there be more to the mutual attraction between Howell and Huckabee?

Both Howell and Huckabee have campaigned as politicians that can be relied to hold the line on taxes and smaller government.

Here in Virginia, we learned the hard way that Howell speaks from both sides of his mouth, professing to be a fiscal conservative while enabling unprecedented spending increases, like the 2004 tax hike that led to a 20% increase in spending in the 2005-2007 budget. This year, Howell has been the chief architect behind HB3202, which contains a series of new taxes, unelected/unaccounted regional authorities, and traffic abuser fees that are about to generate a voter revolt.

But what about Huckabee’s record? The following YouTube ad puts things in a clear perspective on what’s behind the Howell/Huckabee mutual admiration. It’s simple, folks: They both like spending your money…

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