By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee foresees a “broke and battered” nominee emerging from the 2012 Republican presidential sweepstakes but says his recent exit from the race is not etched in stone.
Appearing today as a guest of the Clinton School of Public Service, the surprise 2008 GOP presidential contender said he did not entirely rule out running next year when he announced last month he had decided against throwing his hat into the ring. Running as a vice presidential candidate next year or for president in 2016 also are not out of the question, he said.
“Everything is still open. I haven’t closed doors, because I found long ago that that’s not a smart thing to do,” the Fox television talk show host and syndicated radio voice told reporters after a speech at the Clinton presidential library.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee speaks Wednesday at the Clinton presidential library. (John Lyon photo)
Huckabee said he is “not even thinking about changing my mind right now,” but he added, “Don’t rule anything out for the future.”
During his speech to an audience of about 300 people, Huckabee said several factors prompted him to bow out of next year’s GOP primary, not the least of which he said was the difficulty he sees in defeating Democratic President Barack Obama, who will have a billion-dollar campaign chest and no Democratic primary opponent.
“It’s not going to be an easy path for whoever the Republican is,” he said. “Whoever it is is going to come out of a bloody primary broke and battered. Because I anticipate the Republicans will do what they typically do: They’ll have a demolition derby, a circular firing squad, and load up with bullets and start shooting.”
Huckabee said he believes a Republican could win, but that would depend in part on “whether the Republicans are smart enough to challenge President Obama and not so stupid as to destroy each other. Because if they destroy each other, congratulations, you’ve just given President Obama four more years.”
Huckabee said the prevailing political environment, which he described as “toxic,” also influenced his decision not to run.
“One of the processes that I was going through in deciding whether or not to run for president this election cycle was whether or not the environment in the Republican Party was really about moving toward where we had pragmatic solutions to governing the country or whether it was all about, ‘Can we poke out the eyes of the other guy before they poke out our eyes?’” he said. “And I’ll be honest with you: Right now I’m convinced that it’s all about poking out each other’s eyes.”
Huckabee said that as Arkansas governor he had to work with Democrats, who held all but a few seats in the Legislature, to get anything done.
“Washington isn’t of that mindset right now,” he said. “It is of the mindset that our side is always right and their side is always wrong. I found that disgusting, deplorable and absolutely inaccurate.”
A reporter later asked Huckabee if he believes his employer, Fox News — home to some caustic, ultra-conservative commentators — contributes to that mindset.
“No more so than any other network,” Huckabee said.
Huckabee received standing ovations before and after his speech. He also signed copies of his latest book, “A Simple Government: Twelve Things We Really Need From Washington (and a Trillion We Don’t!).”
June 1st, 2011 at 6:38 pm
After listening to Gov. Mike Huckabee a week ago I find this very confusing as he mentioned that he believed our Good Lord did not want him to run. Maybe God did want Mike to run after all. You know, much like He wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh and he of course at first refused?
For you Mike, a word of advice from a fellow who has seen too much in his life and understands what this really is, please keep out of the race you are starting to act like a RINO and it really shows badly. Find someone God directs you to get behind and support them until you drop. I do not believe we can afford to mess this up.
June 1st, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Advice to Huckabee: Stay out of politics. You’re a nice guy, but not presidential material. Thanks.
June 1st, 2011 at 6:44 pm
It appears that folks like Huck, Palin and Trump want to play act with the voters. They want to avoid the debates and play like they are somekind of Repbulican Glitterotcy. They are all glitter and no gold. Trump is so scared to death of losing to the “stiff” republican as he calls it (presumably Rommey) that he will only run as an independent that we both know will be nothing more than doing Obama’s dirty work for him. Huck wants his Fox news contract but he doesn’t want to do any heavy lifting in the political arena. Pretty pathetic. I wonder if he still has his Dillards donation account he opened when he left the governors mansion so citizens could give him stuff?
June 1st, 2011 at 6:50 pm
If Huckabee changed his mind that would be good, but I don’t think we have the medical technology to accomplish this task. Not only that, who would be the Donor?
June 1st, 2011 at 6:54 pm
Fox News really needs to release Huckabee since he wants to be considered a candidate. Fox news can not be fair and balanced with Huckabee and Palin on the payroll. They should be released.
June 1st, 2011 at 10:11 pm
Huckabee is about as puffed up as one can get. All the grandiose things the media spun on him when he decided to take the high road and stay out of the race has lured him back into the lair of corruption.
I agree that both Huck and Palin should be released from FOX until they have absolutely said no.
They are both fools getting fed by the beggars begging them to come.
June 1st, 2011 at 10:31 pm
Huckabee has strong numbers across many demographics (including among women) and in most of the swing states. He has the ability to cut into Obama and Dems’ stronghold among minorities and help Republicans down the ticket across the country with his coattails.
Take a look at this FDU poll (from March 21-28, 2011)
http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2011/1103prez/
for example, where he was beating Obama Obama 49-40% among Indies (while Romney was losing 45-44) and tied overall (since Dems now have a larger party ID than the Reps), the best numbers of anyone polled in this poll.
Huckabee should ideally be the GOP nominee, but he ought to be at least the VP pick if the GOP is serious about winning in 2012.