Mike Huckabee isn’t wasting any time.

He’s got a new television show.

He’s got a new book.

He’s making the rounds on the television talk shows to talk about the book.

And just 16 days after America elected Barack Obama after a grueling 21-month presidential campaign, Mike Huckabee is taking his book tour to Iowa.

Coincidence that the book tour will take the former presidential candidate to the state that’s home to the first-in-the-nation presidential contests?

Nah.

Candidates love to pre-campaign with books. It gives them a reason to get out there and talk to people without having to admit that their ego won’t let them just sit around for two years.

John McCain did it with “Faith of my Fathers.“ And hey—it worked for Barack Obama, who did it with “Dreams from my Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.“

There’s a power struggle, an ideological struggle within the Republican Party. Is it a return to traditional conservatism that will return the GOP to power? Or is it a new kind of conservatism that’s needed?

Huckabee represents the latter.

We talked way back in March how the Dallas Morning News’ editorial endorsement of Huckabee would resonate long after the 2008 election cycle.

US News & World Report has given Huckabee’s Republicanism a name: Conservative populism.

It’s conservative social values, yes. But it’s also a stronger emphasis on environmental responsibility.

It’s a commitment to low taxes, yes. But it’s also a departure from the all-taxes-are-bad-taxes mantra to which so many Republicans have married themselves for so long.

Huckabee talked a lot about “common sense” during his presidential campaign. And now he’s brought that theme to his book, “Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement that’s Bringing Common Sense Back to America.“

SIDEBAR: I would have advised Huckabee against that first part of the title. “Do the right thing”? Is that “right” as in correct, or “right” as in Republican? See the problem here? Come to think of it, if we’re looking at prior presidential candidate authorship as a pattern, maybe Huckabee ought to have worked something about his father into the title. END SIDEBAR

Anyway, Huckabee’s book tour will take him through a good number of states where the GOP is strong.

Nothing like getting the base all jazzed up, and getting a few digs in on your potential opponents—most notably, Mitt Romney, with whom Huckabee shares no love lost—in the meantime.

Here’s the bottom line: There’s a battle brewing over the soul of the Republican Party. Victory in the 2012 primaries—and the path, perhaps, for the GOP over the next 20 years—will be determined in Republican clubs over lunches and dinners over the next two years. Who can build the party? Who can make inroads with the party faithful? Who will be able to articulate a vision for what the GOP needs to be, and who can inspire disillusioned Republicans to work to make that vision a reality?

Mike Huckabee says, “Yes, I can.“