It doesn’t mean much this far out from the 2012 election, but the latest CNN poll shows Mike Huckabee with a very slight (i.e., statistically insignificant) lead as the GOP’s presidential front runner.

The survey suggests that 22 percent of Republicans would most likely support former Arkansas governor and former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee for their party’s presidential nomination in 2012. Twenty-one percent say they would most likely back Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, with an equal number supporting former Massachusetts governor and former White House hopeful Mitt Romney.

Taking into account the poll’s 4.5 percent sampling error, Huckabee, Palin and Romney seem to be locked in a hypothetical dead heat.

UPDATE at 6/2/09 5:29:27 pm:

Another take on the new poll from Andrew Malcolm: Poll: 4 months into Obama, Republicans looking better to Americans.