Click here to watch the ad the Huckabee campaign made, but said it wouldn’t run in Iowa. Why can you watch it in such a good quality, you ask?

Simple, because it has been aired in Iowa on three stations.

Jonathan Adler comments: “Last night on Leno, Huck said that if he’d wanted to be cynical, he would have aired the ad, and then pulled it after claiming pangs of conscience about going negative. It seems to me that the Huckabee campaign pulled an even more cynical move: Proclaiming it would not run a negative ad in an effort to take the ‘high road,’ and then running the ad at the last minute anyway, without leaving the Romney campaign time to respond.” He ads that Huckabee says in the ad: “”If a man’s dishonest to obtain a job, he’ll be dishonest on the job.” Adler’s reaction: “I agree, and it’s one more reason I actively oppose Huckabee’s campaign (in addition to supporting Fred).”

FactCheck.org also points out that, ironically, Huckabee isn’t entirely honest in his ad himself.

On one point it is more than a bit misleading. The ad says Romney’s record as governor of Massachusetts includes “no executions.” That’s true, but the reason is that Massachusetts doesn’t have a death penalty. Furthermore, Romney tried and failed to get the death penalty reinstated.

The ad also misleads when it holds Romney accountable for the state health care program’s coverage of abortion. The Romney campaign points out that the former governor was not the one who made the decision to provide abortion coverage for a $50 co-pay. Indeed, the health care legislation Romney signed declared that an independent agency, the Commonwealth Connector, would implement the law and would “develop criteria for plans eligible for premium assistance payments.” (The state subsidizes coverage for those making less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level.)

The ad also is somewhat misleading when the narrator states that Romney’s record includes “over $700 million in new taxes.” That’s not correct. It refers to a Boston Globe story quoting an analyst whose estimate was made up mostly of increases in fees, not taxes. A graphic on screen does state it correctly, saying, “Analyst puts increase in fees, taxes at $700 million.” But that’s not what the narrator said…

We concede this last point is a minor quibble. We ourselves have been critical of Romney’s claim that he didn’t raise taxes at all, noting that some of his fees and closing of “loopholes” in corporate taxes look a lot like tax increases, whatever they are called. But Huckabee sets a high bar for himself when he complains in the ad about “Mitt Romney’s dishonest attacks on me” and adds that “if a man’s dishonest to obtain a job, he’ll be dishonest on the job.”

The conclusion? “In short, Huckabee uses the word ‘dishonest’ three times to describe Romney’s attacks on him, but his own attack falls short of total honesty.”

By Golly!

Called with Huckabee’s campaign: could leave a voicemail message, did that, but that’s not going anywhere of course. Called again and aw shucks! They’re leaving the office because they’re going to celebrate the upcoming victory listen to the results.

I’d like to hear some answers about this issue. Did Huckabee’s campaign know that the ad was going to be aired? What’s the reaction to it? How did these channels get their hands on the ad, and if they were sent by Huckabee’s campaign, why didn’t they tell them to cancel airing it / told them very clearly not to air it? What happened?