Mike Huckabee: Heading to Iowa while ducking questions about 2012
By Dave Cook
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is ducking questions about whether he will run again for president 鈥� but is heading to Iowa Thursday on a book tour.
During a Washington breakfast with reporters on Wednesday, Gov. Huckabee was coy about whether he would be a candidate in four years.聽 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know whether or not I have a political future or not,鈥� he said.聽聽 Given life鈥檚 uncertainties, a conversation on the topic is 鈥渃ompletely meaningless,鈥� he said.
Huckabee鈥檚 trip to Des Moines and Cedar Rapids is part of a 56-city tour to sell his new book 鈥�Do the Right Thing.鈥澛犅� The book looks back at his 2008 bid for the presidency in which Huckabee won the leadoff caucuses in Iowa and seven other states.
His Iowa victory was spurred by support from the state鈥檚 influential religious conservatives.聽 He dismissed suggestions his trip to Iowa would let him shore up support with social conservatives who might now find Sarah Palin more appealing as a presidential candidate in 2012.聽 鈥淧eople who say that are just looking for a story to write,鈥� Huckabee told the Associated Press.
While careful in his comments about 2012, Huckabee was blunt about a variety of other topics during breakfast with reporters at the National Republican Club of Capitol Hill.
At the gathering Huckabee admitted to being envious about Palin鈥檚 rapid rise to prominence as a result of being picked as Senator John McCain鈥檚 running mate.聽 It 鈥渋s not resentment,鈥� he said.
Much of the early reaction to his book has focused on comments about his rivals in the 2008 campaign, especially former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.聽 He wrote that Romney鈥檚 record was 鈥渁nything but conservative until he changed the light bulbs in his chandelier in time to run for president.鈥�
鈥淭his book is not a Mitt Romney book,鈥� Huckabee said.聽 鈥淢itt may be very disappointed.鈥澛犅� A Romney spokesman told the AP that Huckabee鈥檚 comments were 鈥減etty stuff.鈥�
In the 2008 general election, Huckabee said that McCain was 鈥渦p against an extraordinary headwind.鈥澛犅� But when asked if the race were winnable, Huckabee responded that it 鈥渨asn鈥檛 an impossible task鈥� but that McCain would have needed to 鈥渂etter distinguish鈥� himself from Senator Obama.
The GOP needs to do a better job appealing to what Huckabee called 鈥渇aith voters鈥� which his book describes as 鈥� the people of America who are driven by their personal faith more than by a partisan political alignment.鈥澛犅� He said that in the GOP those voters are 鈥渨elcome two days of the year鈥� -- primary and election days.聽 鈥淭here is a point of frustration and exasperation鈥� with that kind of treatment, he said.
Huckabee also argued that the Republican Party needed to attract voters looking to improve their economic standing.聽 He referred to this group as people who 鈥渄on鈥檛 know the price of arugula but know the price of a sack of potatoes.鈥澛犅� Unless the GOP reaches out, it 鈥渨ill become a party of angry old white men,鈥� he said.
The former governor was a warm host, calling members of the press by name and bantering with them about stories they had written.聽 But he argued that candidate Obama had received better treatment from the press than his Republican counterparts.聽 鈥淭here was this pass given to Obama that wasn鈥檛 given to others,鈥� he said.
