For a candidate who may have already stepped on a landmine called Gitmo, this isn’t going to help.

Kuhn: I don’t know to what extent you have been briefed or been able to take a look at the NIE report that came out yesterday …

Huckabee: I’m sorry?

Kuhn: The NIE report, the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran. Have you been briefed or been able to take a look at it —

Huckabee: No.

Kuhn: Have you heard of the finding?

Huckabee: No.

Read the rest. This isn’t a “who is the president of Uzbekistan” kind of gotcha question. It’s not even a Sunni/Shia level gotcha. The NIE has dominated a couple of news cycles in a row now. Yet Huckabee hadn’t heard about it. And once it was explained to him, Huckabee didn’t seem to completely grasp its significance.

I heard yesterday from someone who was until recently in close contact with the Huckabee campaign, who stressed that Huckabee’s Guantanamo answer might be evidence that he needs campaign advisers. He doesn’t have any, really, and is mostly campaigning by instinct. After this, I’d recommend he hire a few advisers, step away from the campaign for a few minutes each day, and take in the day’s events.