Limbaugh's New Rival: Mike Huckabee

It could be Rush Limbaugh's toughest challenge yet: civility. Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is about to launch a radio program challenging Limbaugh, going head-to-head from noon to 3pm, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Mike Huckabee Show will be on 140 stations to start, many fewer than Limbaugh's 600. But with Limbaugh having lost more than 140 sponsors because of his most recent controversies, the time could be right for a new kind of conservative message. "More conversation, less confrontation" is the Huckabee show slogan.

"I'm not a person who would call anyone by names that would cause my late mother to come out of her grave and slap me to the floor," quipped Huckabee. Cumulus Media Networks, the company behind Huckabee's new program, owns 570 radio stations, including 40 that air Limbaugh's program. Which program those 40 stations will choose will be "one of the big litmus tests" of Limbaugh's troubles, said a radio veteran. "Mike Huckabee will pose the most formidable challenge to Limbaugh that I can remember from a conservative hosting in the same time slot, and being backed by a major company," said a talk radio expert. (More Mike Huckabee stories.)