Ed Crane doesn’t really like politicians, nor, for that matter, people who do. So it’s not surprising that the president of the libertarian Cato Institute is brimming with caustic opinions about the presidential race.

“I’m amazed that people take a candidate like [Mike] Huckabee, who doesn’t believe in evolution, seriously,” said Crane, who presides over a Washington think tank famous for telling the government to butt out of people’s lives.