As all of us who support Mike Huckabee know, he is a shadow of his former self, losing a whopping 110 pounds a few years ago and now a marathon runner. For anyone who has spent any time traveling, you know that trying to maintain your normal diet can be challenging at best. Well, for those running for President, it is a big issue.

Mr. Huckabee also eats lightly, sticking largely to salads, protein bars and steamed vegetables. But if a campaign trip he took this month is any guide, his mind tends to wander into more dangerous nutritional territory. At a metal factory in Cedar Falls, Iowa, he stared as a worker punched out a flat disc. “Put a little pepperoni and cheese on that, and you’re made,” he observed. One machine, he said, looked like a grill for rib-eye steaks.

Mr. Huckabee, once so overweight as governor of Arkansas that a chair collapsed under him at a meeting, said in an interview that obesity could put politicians at a disadvantage.

“If you’re really overweight, some people just look at you and immediately sort of write you off,” he said. “They just assume you’re undisciplined.”

For the rest of this article that looks at the eating and exercise behaviors of other candidates as well (such as Sen. Clinton, Bill Richardson, and Rudy Giuliani), please stop by the New York Times, HERE.