Huckabee's "Freebird"

"Up until Saturday the constant thing was, 'nice guy, really good message, great personal story, but can he win?' " said Huckabee.

"Saturday people started saying, 'You know, he really can win. If he can get those kind of results [second place behind Mitt Romney] with the limited resources he had--"fewer than anyone else who walked in that day--" imagine what would happen if he had the resources."

Huckabee said that he spent less than $90,000 on the straw poll but did wow crowds with some Hope, Ark., watermelon and his band, Capitol Offense.

"It was the band, it was Capitol Offense, especially when we played 'Freebird,' " he joked.

By Paul Bedard