Gamble Paid Off for Huckabee on Tuesday.

Regardless of one's political persuasion, as they would say on the A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together." Unlike Giuliani's failed strategy with respect to Florida, Huckabee's worked.

From The Washington Post:

After a dispiriting loss nearly three weeks ago in South Carolina, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee made the risky decision to sidestep the pivotal Florida primary and turn his attention to a handful of Super Tuesday contests.

Already slipping from the spotlight and with little money to spend, the Huckabee campaign was in danger of further marginalizing itself by skipping the marquee matchup in Florida, where former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani had joined the race. But campaign aides did not think the campaign had the money or support to place in the top two, and they feared that a distant finish would cripple Huckabee's chances.

Better, they reasoned, to turn their efforts to half a dozen Southern and Midwestern states that voted Tuesday, hoping a strong showing would propel the campaign back into the thick of a splintered race.

The maneuver worked. Huckabee dominated the South, winning his native Arkansas as well as Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and West Virginia. "It was better for us not to spend money in what could be a bottomless pit of media markets in Florida," said Bob Wickers, a top Huckabee adviser.