Megyn Kelly spent half her show last night giving her former colleague and newly-announced presidential candidate a warm introduction to Fox viewers.

Kelly has hosted four of the other Republican presidential candidates shortly after they announced (with Dr. Ben Carson surely yet to come) but none got the kind of welcome Huckabee got.

Kelly began with a 14-minute segment that included a lengthy biographical sketch and a palsy visit with Huckabee to his hometown of Hope, Arkansas. It was “a lot like Mayberry,” Huckabee told us. We saw where he played baseball and rode his bike. We learned that “by the age of 16,” Huckabee was already “a successful statewide politician” – because he was governor of Arkansas Boys State, “a mock government program for kids that has shaped the lives of many leaders.”

Afterward, there was a chummy interview with the candidate. Kelly threw in a few semi-tough questions somewhere in the middle: "This time around, the pundits say you have more competition… Some of the knocks on you have been that you are not conservative enough."

But before long, Kelly was slobbering: "It’s a miracle you got elected (governor of Arkansas). …You were only the third Republican governor since Reconstruction in the state of Arkansas, it’s not like this was a red state and yet you got to the top of it."

In the second part, Huckabee spent another 12+ minutes “facing America’s voters.” But it was only some of “America’s voters." “We have gathered with us here a group of real, live Republicans,” Kelly explained. If Huckabee wins the nomination, she’ll do a group of Democrats and Republicans, she promised.

The “real” Republicans included Fox News contributor Deneen Borelli; Adam Green, CEO of a media company that works for Republicans; Pete Snyder, who bills himself as “a conservative on the Fox News team;” Republican strategist Brian Morgenstern; and Yevegeniy Feyman, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and whose ObamaCare Impact Map was deemed an “indispensable tool” by Karl Rove.

To be fair, the group asked substantive and insightful questions – with the possible exception of Rev. Jennifer Crumpton who wanted to know, “What female character in the Bible best helps you to understand the struggles of women and why equal pay is so crucial for the social and economic stability of families?” For the record, it’s “probably Ruth.” You can watch the clip below to get the rest of the answer.

However, it was hardly the group of “regular” people that Kelly suggested.

Meanwhile, near the end, Huckabee insisted that those who believe in “natural marriage” are being criminalized. Nobody challenged him.

Instead, Kelly closed by inviting Huckabee to take a gratuitous swing at Hillary Clinton. Does she need to hold a press conference or give an interview, Kelly asked, “at some point soon to respond to what we’ve seen in the Clinton Cash controversy?”

As if there was anyone who couldn’t guess what Huckabee would say.

Watch the infomercial below, from last night’s The Kelly File.