They know exactly what they are doing. But some are more honest than the others as you said. I encountered a very radical Huckabee supporter Freeper a few days ago. He saw his 'people', evangelicals, being ignored by the secular Republican elites and declared a war against them whom he considered to be his people's enemies. His goal was to take over the Republican party, then the media, and academia. It was quite a shock to me. Good grief. I'm a true-to-life fundamentalist Christian (i.e. more conservative than the Evangelicals), and taking over the GOP is about the last thing I would want to do.
I AM glad to report, however, that I've personally seen and aided in the conversion of several Huckabee supporters over to Fred, including a few pastors, many just in the last week alone.