WASHINGTON — There’s talk out there, among bloggers and others, that to shore up his conservative credentials, Republican presidential frontrunner John McCain might choose Mike Huckabee as his running mate.

 Huckabee, after all, is a southern preacher with rock-solid positions on social issues.

The problem with that analysis is that — next to McCain himself — no one is more reviled than Huckabee by the conservative radio talk show hosts who are going after McCain nonstop for allegedly being a liberal who likes nothing better than to jab the Republican Party. The radio talkers detest Huckabee for a litany of misdeeds — he pardoned some criminals and raised some taxes as governor of Arkansas and he talks more about the plight of working folks than the conditions on Wall Street. Plus, get this — he’s got some support from those big bad union bosses.