For months, the political class has believed that Huckabee would not run in the 2012 election cycle because he wasn’t taking any organizational steps. (Activists in New Hampshire, too, said in March that his messaging was off, which suggested to them he would stay out.) That has changed, and a scheduled appearance at the Republican Leadership Conference in Louisiana in June and a fundraiser Wednesday in Washington are part of the latest evidence.

According to a confidant of Rollins who has been slated for a high-level position in the potential campaign, “Ed has had long and serious discussions with Mike as recently as this past weekend.” Rollins would manage the first phase of the Huckabee campaign this time…

Now, he may have to offer his decision by the end of the month. Republican operatives familiar with the deliberations at Fox News say that the network has told Huckabee he has until the end of the month to make up his mind about the race or he’ll be cut off, just as Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were when the then-contributors were still in the consideration phase.