Post-Campaign Huckabee Gains From His Other Loss

Four short months ago, Mike Huckabee was on top of the political world after winning the hearts and minds of Iowa Republicans in his dark-horse presidential bid. Yesterday, he was holding forth to a smallish corporate confab about diabetes prevention with va-voomy "Access Hollywood" correspondent Maria Menounos.

Dude has totally traded up.

Deep down, every politician must secretly love that moment when he can leave the grueling campaign trail and start collecting those sweet speaker's fees. (Ask Bill Clinton!) It helps if the topic is one that the pol is truly energized by -- and a diabetes diagnosis was the nudge for Huckabee's legendary 110-pound weight loss a couple of years ago. Plus, the man's a great storyteller. So his appearance at the Newseum, on behalf of pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, was like an outtake from a really inspiring episode of "The Biggest Loser."

"If anybody ever existed as the poster child for unhealthy living, it would have been me," Huckabee told the press briefing.

He explained how Southerners adopted fried foods out of "economic necessity." But as a kid, "I thought we ate fried foods because we were lucky, not because we were broke!" He never exercised: "I used to see people out running, and I'd think . . . 'They're going to get hit by a car. What's healthy about getting hit by a car?' "

As the super-size governor of Arkansas, he dreaded scaling the statehouse stairs to face reporters: Winded from the climb, he looked "like Mike Wallace had just chased me down the alley for an ambush for '60 Minutes.' "

Good stuff! Can we just get this guy his own talk show already?

The staunch conservative gave props to Ralph Nader for his seat-belt campaign, saying a similar public-education effort will be needed to fight obesity. Once, he said, mandatory seat-belt laws seemed like a crazy idea; now almost every state has one, "except New Hampshire." Ahem. "If I had carried that state, I would have never mentioned New Hampshire."

Obama's Entertaining Endorsements

NOW they tell us! We never imagined the Celebrity Primary would stretch on this long, but here it is May and VIPs are still coming forward with their endorsements.

· Tom Hanks: Announced support for Barack Obama in a video on his MySpace page, citing character, vision, etc. Also self-deprecates: "As an official celebrity, I know my endorsement has just made your mind up for you."

· Lil Wayne: Told Blender magazine he backs Obama but warns that electability remains key. "I ain't watching no debates. I just want my people to understand that Hillary and Barack are not running for president -- they running to be able to run for president. There's a Republican Party, too -- we ain't about to win, fool!"

THIS JUST IN . . .

· Amy Winehouse was arrested in London yesterday on suspicion of drug possession, stemming from a January video that allegedly shows her taking drugs. London's Sun newspaper published pictures of the singer inhaling from a pipe during a party at her home; Winehouse gave herself up and was "cooperating fully with inquiries," said her rep.

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"I know what I would have to do. It would be several years from now. I would be successful on Wall Street and fly a private jet in, take you to a Broadway play and then I know you would fall for me or go out with me."

-- Bob Stokes to co-anchor Hillary Andrews-- one of hundreds of delusional, unwanted come-ons at . . . yes, the Weather Channel, according to a lawsuit filed by Andrews and obtained by the Smoking Gun. Their stormy relationship may have looked sunny, but there was a chill in the air and Andrews was allegedly pelted with comments spoken by the overheated Stokes ("Tell me you find me attractive. Come on, please, just tell me you find me attractive") that dampened her spirits and resulted in the lawsuit, dismissals and intermittent weather gags.