For the past 25 years or so, Republicans have made Jimmy Carter and his presidency one of their favorite punching bags -- the modern equivalent of what the Democrats did to Herbert Hoover two generations ago. "Look what happens when you nominate someone without much experience, who comes out of nowhere," they've said. Or, "He was just a little too odd or unconventional to be an effective president." Now, though, the Republicans may want to keep their opinions of Carter (for whom I worked in the 1976 presidential campaign) to themselves. That's because if they nominate Mike Huckabee -- who...