The second time in a week that NBC’s cast an exacting eye at his record. Huck’s campaign asks us to keep things in perspective. The numbers:

Here is the breakdown on Governor Huckabee’s Clemency stats from 7-15-96 through 12-31-06:

Pardon requests: 3646
Pardon denied: 2401
Pardon granted: 858

66% of the requests were denied.

Commutation requests: 4925
Commutation denied: 4257
Commutation granted: 165

86% of the requests were denied.

Firearm rights only requests: 127
Firearm rights only denied: 49
Firearm rights only granted: 64

39% of the requests were denied.

Add the pardons and commutations, divide by the total number of weeks in a 10.5 year term, and you’re averaging well over one per Sunday. The Maxwell case mentioned by NBC reflects better on Huck than Dumond does — for one thing, he actually did act with the courage of his convictions in this one, commuting Maxwell’s sentence, and Maxwell apparently hasn’t reverted to his old ways since he’s been out. Why make him the showpiece, then? Probably because of the reason Huck (allegedly) gave when granting the commutation. Watch and see.