2010: Step Into My Triple-Wide

For all they have in common as possible 2012 GOP presidential nominees, Gov. Rick Perry and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee have different tastes in living quarters.

On the day the State Preservation Board approved two new renovation plans for the Governor’s Mansion (the board also approved security upgrades at the Capitol, including X-ray machines and metal detectors, despite Perry's objections), Democrat Bill White's campaign pulled out this 2007 Huckabee appearance on Jay Leno. It’s a clip of a circa-2000 Huckabee displaying his temporary digs while the Arkansas governor’s mansion was under construction — a donated triple-wide trailer. The Huckabees said they lived there during the 18-month renovation period to save public money. Watch the full version here.

Perry, as the White campaign would have you know, has been living in a $9,000-a-month mansion for the past two years — “with a heated pool, full outdoor kitchen, cabana, and pool house,” according to spokeswoman Katy Bacon — while he waits for repairs and renovations to be completed at the Texas Governor’s mansion. Bacon called on Perry to “set a budget-cutting example for other state employees and move out."

"We have to remember that even if we get a new plan, it's still going to going to be under construction for quite a while, while taxpayers are getting charged $9,000 a month," she said.

After someone threw a Molotov cocktail at the door in 2008, the mansion was nearly destroyed by a fire, which burned for several hours and took 100 firefighters to put out. At that point, the governor and his wife had already taken a new residence in anticipation of the renovations.