I have a close friend who is very positive about Huckabee. I must say that I am less positive about him, but from what I can see, though I would have policy disagreements with him in a number of areas, he seems to be a good man. That counts for a lot with me, so I would vote for him without reservations if he were the nominee.
Like you, I also tend to put a lot of weight on my impression of a candidate's character.